Incense burner

Definition of an Incense Burner

An essential instrument in the art of incense, the incense burner is also a crucial offering in traditional Chinese folk customs, religion, and sacrificial ceremonies. It is primarily used for burning incense to create fragrance, create an atmosphere, or be used in specific rituals and religious activities.

History of Incense Burners

· Origin: The origins of incense burners can be traced back to ancient times, with gray pottery incense burners unearthed from Longshan and Liangzhu culture sites considered their precursors. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, although some scholars have suggested that incense burners share a common lineage with the ancient cauldron, these vessels were primarily used for cooking meat and offering sacrifices to ancestors, significantly different from the specialized incense burners of later times.

Development Stages

Warring States Period:

 Copper incense burners began to appear, such as the phoenix-beaked ring-shaped copper incense burner unearthed from Yaojiagang, Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province.

Han Dynasty:

 After the opening of the Western Regions, the Spice Route flourished, and foreign spices were imported in large quantities. Incense burners became extremely popular, with diverse shapes and fine craftsmanship, entering a period of rapid development. The emergence of the Boshan incense burner, in particular, was closely linked to the Han Dynasty's strong belief in immortals. Its shape, imitating the image of a fairy mountain, became a symbol of status at the time.

 

During the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties,

 with the rise of Buddhism in China, incense burners incorporated Buddhist cultural elements such as lotuses, flames, and auspicious clouds. During this period, incense burners became a key Buddhist ritual implement.

 

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, 

as the upper classes embraced extravagance, incense burners became luxury goods, with numerous gold and silver incense burners inlaid with precious materials such as pearls and agate.

Prosperity

Song Dynasty: 

Due to the royal family's fondness for retro styles and the booming porcelain industry, porcelain incense burners became mainstream. Ancient styles such as lian, ding, li, and gui appeared. Animal-shaped incense burners imitating the auspicious beasts Suanni, Qilin, and ducks were also popular. "Burning incense at home" became a daily routine for the upper class.

Ming Dynasty:

The advent of the Ming Xuande incense burner brought the beauty of Chinese incense burners to its peak. Emperor Xuande ordered people to use the shapes of bronzes recorded in Song Dynasty epigraphy and classic porcelains in the imperial collection as references. The copper incense burner they imitated was "like gold in color and sounded like bells and chimes." It was very popular among scholars, officials and collectors, and was widely imitated in later generations.

Qing Dynasty:

 After the rulers entered the Central Plains, sacrifice was prevalent, and the skilled craftsmen of Jingdezhen pushed porcelain production to a historical peak, and at the same time, a large number of precious jade materials and fire-fearing materials such as bamboo, wood, teeth, and horns were used to make incense burners.

The use of incense burners in ancient times

· Religious sacrifices

· Buddhism: 

In Buddhist ceremonies, the incense burner is an important ritual instrument, known as the treasure tripod, generally before the start of the ceremony, burning incense and worshiping the Buddha is a necessary ritual, people believe that cigarettes are a channel for communication between people and gods, and pray that the incense can go directly to the gods with the cigarettes when burning incense devoutly.

· Taoism:

 When Taoist priests catch demons and ghosts, set up an altar to cast spells, the incense burner is one of the necessary magic tools, such as when Zhuge Liang ascended the altar to borrow the east wind, there was an incense burner in the prepared magic vessel.

Folk sacrifices:

 If there is an ancestral tablet in the family, an incense burner will be placed on the offering table for burning incense and worshiping ancestors; In some folk belief activities, such as welcoming gods and inviting Buddha, incense burners are also essential ceremonial supplies.

· Practical aspects of life

· Incense clothes: 

The ancients used incense burners to incense clothes, so that the clothes have a fragrance, and also have a certain cleaning and insect repellent effect.

· Purify the air:

By burning fragrances, it can remove indoor turbid air, purify the air, and improve the living environment.

· Repel mosquitoes:

 Some spices with special odors can repel mosquitoes when burned and play a role in preventing mosquito bites.

· Culture and art

· Literati elegance: The literati class used the incense burner as a cultural and elegant setting, placed a unique incense burner in the study and hall, burned incense and tasted tea, read and painted, creating an elegant atmosphere and becoming a symbol of life and culture.

· Artistic creation: The shape and decoration of the incense burner have become the subject of artistic creation, and often appear in paintings, sculptures, poems and other art forms, such as Li Qingzhao's "Mist and Clouds Sorrowful Eternal Day, Rui Brain Eliminates Golden Beast" mentions the incense burner.

· Social etiquette

· Wedding ceremony: According to the "Family Rituals" of the Southern Dynasty, Song and Xu Yuan, at that time, two copper incense burners were used in front of the car during the wedding welcome, which shows that the incense burner has a ceremonial role such as guidance in the wedding ceremony.

· Daily socializing: Officials and eunuchs in the Song Dynasty always set up incense burners on the hall, and incense was burned when entertaining guests or sitting idly to create a good social atmosphere.