Li Yu: Last Sovereign, Lyric Poet
Li Yu (Southern Tang), one of the key figures in the history of Chinese incense culture(香学).
Li Yu · Southern Tang
Identity:Last Sovereign, Lyric Poet
Representative incense works / incense practices:Jiangnan Lord Li's Bedchamber Incense
Li Yu, the last sovereign of the Southern Tang, is remembered in incense history for "Jiangnan Lord Li's Bedchamber Incense": made by steaming agarwood and sandalwood powder with quince pears to draw out their clear, moist fruity fragrance—an early famous formula among blended incenses that imitate floral scents. A wisp of bedchamber incense steamed both an emperor's romantic splendor and the sorrow of a fallen realm into the fragrance, and later literati often wrote of it.
and Chinese incense culture(香学)
Seen through Li Yu, Chinese incense culture(香学) is not an isolated craft, but a process in which generations of literati and artisans continually documented, systematized and spiritualized olfactory experience. Only by understanding these sages can one understand the weight of the wisp of incense in today's hands.
Representative incense formulas · incense poems · incense treatises
Incense Formula·Li Lord of Jiangnan's Tent Incense(Goose Pear Tent Incense)
Created by Li Yu, the Last Lord of Southern Tang: Chop agarwood finely like a lamp wick, soak thoroughly in juice squeezed from ten goose pears, steam until soft in a steamer, grind and mix, then add a little borneol. The moisture of pear juice moderates the fierceness of agarwood; when burned in a tent, it is sweet and moist without being dry. See Xiang Cheng and Chen's Xiang Pu.
Incense Lyric"Huan Xi Sha"
"The red sun has risen three zhang high, golden censers are successively filled with beast-shaped incense burners, and the red brocade carpet wrinkles with each step." — "Beast-shaped incense burner" refers to an animal-shaped censer, vividly depicting the grandeur of incense burning in the Southern Tang palace.