Xiang Cheng, Volume 23: Incense Formulas III (Xuanhe Imperial Incense)
Xuanhe Imperial Incense is the culmination of Song dynasty court incense blending techniques.
Volume 23 · Incense Formulas III (Xuanhe Imperial Incense)
Original Text (Compiled and Collated)
Xuanhe Imperial Incense: agarwood seven liang, sandalwood three liang, jinyan incense two liang, frankincense one liang, ambergris, borneol, and musk each half a liang. Grind into fine powder, mix evenly with refined white honey, place in a porcelain box, steam in a double boiler for the time of one meal, and store sealed for half a month.
Vernacular Translation and Annotation
This is the famous Song dynasty court formula "Xuanhe Imperial Incense" (Xuanhe being the era name of Emperor Huizong of Song). Agarwood serves as the sovereign ingredient (seven liang), with sandalwood, jinyan incense, and frankincense as assistants, and a small amount of ambergris, borneol, and musk to lift the aroma. The ingredients are ground into powder, blended evenly with refined white honey, steamed in a double boiler for the time of one meal, and then stored sealed for half a month before use. The formula demonstrates the mature Song dynasty incense blending craft of "valuing agarwood and sandalwood, complementing with ambergris and musk, and blending with honey," and is a representative work among the incense formulas in Xiang Cheng.
Annotations
- Jinyan incense: a fragrant resin produced in the South Seas, with a sweet scent.
- Double boiler: steaming over water.
- The time of one meal: approximately the duration of a meal.
Editorial Notes · Editions and Compilation Notes
Basis of editions:The transmitted text of Xiang Cheng (Treatise on Incense) traces its ancestor to the Ming Chongzhen-era printed edition; extant today are the Wenyuan Ge Siku Quanshu edition, the Siku Huiyao edition, and various Qing manuscript copies. This compilation takes the commonly circulated collated edition as its base text and cross-checks it against the Siku edition.
Collation for this volume:Records the imperial incense of Emperor Huizong of Song's Xuanhe era; this recipe appears in Xiang Cheng and Chen shi xiang pu, with minor differences in wording; here the essentials of both are preserved.
Facsimile comparison:The "original text" on this page is a collated transcription (punctuated and paragraphed according to modern conventions), not a facsimile of the original book; for word-by-word collation, please consult authoritative public-domain editions:Full text of Xiang Cheng (28 volumes), Siku Quanshu edition, on Wikisource、Facsimile scans of Xiang Cheng (PDFs including the National Library of China copy) on Wikimedia Commons. This site does not fabricate ancient book layouts, so authoritative public-domain facsimile external links are provided instead.