Incense is made manifest through vessels, and vessels are passed down through incense. A single censer, a single seal, a single thread of incense ritual—these hold the aesthetics and order of the Chinese art of burning incense. Here we go from the Han-dynasty Boshan censer to the Ming Xuande censer, and then look at incense seals and the "three implements of censer and vase."
The Han-dynasty Boshan censer is the first peak in the history of incense vessels. The lid is pierced into the form of layered "Boshan" peaks; when incense is burned, smoke curls out through the openings among the mountains, as if cloud vapor from an immortal mountain on the sea—giving voice to the yearnings of the ancient Chinese for another world. The gold-inlaid Boshan censer unearthed from the Han tomb at Mancheng, Hebei, is its representative work. Boshan censers were mostly made of gold-, silver-, and copper-inlaid or gilt bronze, and are a model of ritual vessel united with aesthetic refinement.
During the Xuande reign of the Ming dynasty, refined Siam (present-day Thailand) wind-polished copper was alloyed with gold, silver, tin, zinc, and other metals to cast censers, producing the "Xuande censer": its color is rich and moist, its feel heavy in the hand, and it opened a new era for bronze incense censers. Its colors include names such as wax-tea, chestnut-shell, crabapple-pear, and Tibetan-scripture; it eschews carving and values instead the patina and the quality of the copper. Later imitations of Xuande are numerous, and so distinguishing genuine from fake became a discipline of connoisseurship and collecting.
Incense seals (printed incense) use specially made molds to press incense powder into continuous, winding patterns; one end is lit, and it burns slowly along the pattern. It is both a method of burning incense and atimekeeping device—the "hundred-mark incense" lays out the seal according to the marks of day and night; when the incense is consumed, the time is known. It was the silent clock of the ancient literati's study and meditation room. Since the Song dynasty, incense seals became widespread in the daily life of scholars. Lu You's lines—"My official body constantly owes the debt of reading, my salary rice does not supply the funds for buying wine. I am only glad that today is quiet and without affairs, burning incense, idly reading Yuxi's poems"—are exactly a portrait of seal incense accompanying study.
Complete incense practice emphasizes the "three implements of censer and vase": the censer, the incense vase (holding incense chopsticks and a incense shovel), and the incense box (storing incense). Only when the three form a set is it complete. There is also the method of "indirect fire incensing"—not burning the incense material directly, but separating it from the fire with mica sheets or silver leaf, so that the incense gives off smoke gently and warmly without scorching, and the fragrance is purer. This method is valued in both China and Japan: in Japanese incense ceremony, incense is lit precisely by "cutting thin slices of fragrant wood and placing them on mica/silver leaf for indirect fire incensing" (seeJapanese Incense Ceremony page）。
The system of incense vessels reached completeness with Xiangsheng—its volume twenty-six is devoted to the "censer category," appending illustrated diagrams of censer forms and norms of use, and is the great synthesis of ancient incense-vessel catalogues. Ming-dynasty Wen Zhenheng's Zhangwuzhi, by contrast, discusses the elegance or vulgarity of objects: it lists censers, incense boxes, and incense vases in great detail, advocating "prefer plainness to cleverness, prefer frugality to vulgarity," and incorporates incense vessels into the literati aesthetic system of "pure offerings." The elegance or vulgarity of a single vessel mirrors precisely the state of mind of the one who uses incense.
This article was compiled by Wubaiyi Agarwood. Copyright of text and images belongs to Wubaiyi Agarwood; reproduction, excerpting, or mirroring without written authorization is prohibited. The content is compiled from public ancient texts and research on Chinese Incense Culture(香学); you are welcome to visit the store to appreciate incense and exchange views.
The following Q&A is compiled from content on this site for quick reference; descriptions of the medicinal properties of incense materials are traditional beliefs and do not constitute medical advice.
Mainly incense burners (Boshan burners, li-style burners, etc.), incense balls, incense boxes, incense seal trays, incense bottles (spoon and chopstick bottles), and sachets. Different incense utensils correspond to different uses such as burning incense, fumigating incense, seal incense, and wearing incense.
The Boshan burner flourished in the Han Dynasty; its lid is carved in the shape of an immortal mountain on the sea. It is a representative of early aristocratic incense-fumigating utensils and one of the most famous vessel types in the history of incense utensils.
First determine the use: for burning incense sticks choose a cylindrical or plate burner; for seal incense choose a seal burner; for indirect fire fumigation choose a deep burner with a suitable rim. Then consider whether the material (copper, porcelain, pottery) and size suit the room space.