Chinese incense culture(香学) · Incense and Seasonal Folk Customs
Clothing incense
Beyond "the incense burns away in the golden beast," the ancients also used incense cages to scent their garments—garment fragrance was a refined daily practice.
Incense-scenting garments is a highly everyday part of Chinese incense customs. Scenting clothes and bedding with incense is both clean and elegant.
Methods of Scenting Garments
- Incense cage: a cage-like bamboo-woven vessel, with incense placed below (charcoal fire separated by ash) and clothes or bedding draped on top, absorbing fragrance from the warm air.
- Commonly used incense: borneol (cinnabar brain), agarwood, linglingxiang, etc., chosen for their fresh, clear scent that is not cloying.
- Garment sachet: sachets are also placed in clothes chests so garments retain fragrance for a long time.
The Elegance of Garment Fragrance
Li Qingzhao's "the rui brain incense burns away in the golden beast" captures the leisure of scenting clothes;Linglingxiangis moreover a famous item for scenting clothes. The fragrance of clothing andwearing fragrance— one still, one moving — both are fragrant herbs for daily use.