Child's hat of blue, pink and red silk, decorated in the form of a lion's head using appliqué with fabric, beads and metal wire wrapped with silk thread to represent eyes, nose, mouth, teeth and moustache. The ears are of green silk, edged with gold threads and lined with red cotton. They are attached to the hat by two green silk-wrapped coil springs. Above the face are gilt metal spikes, below the face are two flower sprays embroidered on blue silk. The back of the hat is of quilted red silk. The whole hat is padded and lined with patterned cotton. This hat would have been for a boy, and would have been worn on special occasions, such as birthdays or Chinese New Year.
Animal hats are worn by children in China for protection against evil spirits. According to Garrett (1997), animal hats had ears to hear evil spirits approaching, large protruding eyes to spot danger, and a mouth full of bared teeth. See Garrett, V.M. (1997), 'A Collector's Guide to Chinese Dress Accessories', 56-59.
