Chinese incense burner
China
Ming dynasty, dated AD 1491
This large stoneware incense burner is incised and has
relief-moulded dragon and phoenix decoration beneath
sancai (three-coloured) glaze.
The side handles are inscribed on one side with the date:
‘Made on an auspicious day of the fourth lunar month of the
fourth year of Hongzhi (AD 1491)’; and on the other
‘Incense burner made for the Jingxin [Pure Mind]
Temple’.
Incense is burned at temples and on domestic altars as a means
of opening communication channels with the spirit world.
Burners like this one would have been filled with sand in
which sticks of incense were placed and burnt.