censer(청동은입사향완
靑銅銀入絲香盌)
- Museum number
- 1936,1118.196
- Description
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Censer. With formal patterns and 4 seed script characters. Made of bronze inlaid with silver.
- Production date
- 14thC
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 17.60 centimetres (foot)
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Diameter: 24 centimetres (mouth)
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Height: 26.30 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
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Zwalf 1985
For ritual use on an altar as part of a larger set, this censer is typical of the accomplished Koryŏ-period metalwork. The decorative pattern and Indian ‘Siddham’ characters, used to write invocations, are inlaid in silver. The characters can be read anticlockwise to make a mystic formula whose sounds, ‘Oṃ raṃ svāhā’, give the seed-syllable ‘raṃ’.
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2016 National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage catalogue entries:
'This Buddhist ritual vessel from the Goryeo period was designed to be placed on the altar of a Buddhist temple and used to burn incense during rituals and services. The burner has the shape of a mounted bowl whose entire outer surface is elaborately decorated with silver-inlaid vine, cloud and floral motifs. The body is decorated by four circles made by making successive incisions of mandala flowers, each containing an inlaid Sanskrit letter. The foot is incised with a cintamani motif, the base with honeysuckle vine and cloud designs. Incense burners of this type are widely praised for the unique artistic beauty and religious symbolism applied to their form and ornamentation by highly skilled Goryeo artisans.'
'고려 금속공예품 가운데 불구류佛具類에 속하는 향완은 불단에 안치해 놓고 향을 피워 사용하던 의식 용구인 향로의 일종이다. 몸체와 받침대를 갖춘 고배高杯 모양으로 만들었다. 전체 면에 덩굴과 구름, 꽃무늬 등을 은입사하였다. 몸체 표면 중앙 4곳에 보상화문을 연속으로 새겨 원을 만들고, 면상감 기법으로 원안에 범자梵字를 1자씩 새겼다. 받침대 위에는 여의주문을 새기고 아래쪽은 인동당초문, 굽에는 구름 무늬를 시문하였다. 은입사 문양의 섬세함과 형태의 세련미는 고려미술의 독창성과 불교적 성격을 잘 보여준다.'
- Location
- On display (G67/dc7)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2023-2026 G67 long term loans from the National Museum of Korea
2014 17 Dec - onwards, BM Galleries, Korea Foundation Gallery, Room 67
- Acquisition date
- 1936
- Acquisition notes
- Bought from the Eumorfopoulos Collection with the aid of public subscription.
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1936,1118.196