A Journey Through China's Incense Culture

The Chinese have a long history of using incense. In the Warring States Period, people used bronze vessels to burn incense indoors. The earliest incense vessels were often borrowed from tripods, beans and other utensils. The Chinese Incense Burner designed specifically for burning incense began to appear until the Han Dynasty, such as the famous "Boshan furnace". With the popularization of incense culture, incense burners of various materials and shapes have continued to emerge, which are both practical and artistic.

Chinese Incense Burners are used for burning incense,and in various forms such as sachets, incense boxes, and incense tubes. According to historical development, it can be roughly divided into three stages:

Bud Stage: Spring And Autumn Period And Warring States Period To Han Dynasty

During the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, Chinese incense burners were not yet produced. Generally, bronze furnaces were used for fumigation. At that time, the main herbs used were orchids, mugwort and other herbs that could repel mosquitoes and eliminate foul air. The furnace shape was usually a bean-shaped vessel with a round mouth and a deep belly.

From the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, incense burners, fumigation cages or fumigation balls were mostly used by nobles or wealthy families, so the shape was exquisite and the craftsmanship was superb.

Boshan furnace full of immortal thoughts

Because of the popularization of immortal alchemists who pursued immortality and the idea of overseas immortal mountains, a special incense burner with the shape of the legendary overseas immortal mountains often appeared from the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties-"Boshan furnace". When burning orchids, herbs or other spices in the Boshan furnace, smoke will float out from the immortals and flowing clouds on the furnace cover. The whole furnace is a replica of the mythical mountain surrounded by clouds all year round, showing the strong immortal thoughts of the aristocratic families at that time.

Fumigation furnace

Fumigation furnace is a furnace used for fumigation and burning charcoal for heating in ancient times. Most of the incense burners found so far are made of copper. The body of the incense burner is shallow, and there may be gilding on it. There is a tray for holding ashes at the bottom. The shape of the body of the incense burner is quite peculiar, vivid and varied. The ones that still exist today are: a square incense burner in the shape of a five-phoenix bean with a cover carved to symbolize auspiciousness and peace; a duck-shaped incense burner in the shape of a long-necked duck, with a cover carved with winding cloud patterns and can be opened and closed. When burning spices in the incense burner, the smoke will slowly overflow from the duck's mouth, which is very cute and funny; a flat round incense burner with a cover carved with coiled dragon patterns and a coiled dragon pattern incense burner with cloud patterns on the belly wall. In addition to copper incense burners, there are also a few ceramic glazed incense burners with vivid shapes, exquisite designs and no trays in the Han Dynasty.

Incense cage and incense ball

In addition to the above-mentioned incense burners, incense cages were also popular in the Han Dynasty. They were copper incense burners that could be placed directly in clothes to burn incense. There was also a round copper incense ball that could be placed in the center of the interior to burn incense. Its special, fine design that would not tip over allowed it to be safely placed in the mattress to burn incense, and it was also called the incense burner in the quilt.

Development Period: Wei, Jin, Southern And Northern Dynasties To Sui And Tang Dynasties

China has a very long history of using incense. When Buddhism was introduced to China in the Eastern Han Dynasty, a large number of various spices and the concepts and methods of using incense were also introduced. They interacted with the traditional Chinese incense culture and changed the Chinese people's incense habits and occasions. This influence was more obvious in the social culture of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. For example, the custom of bathing with incense soup and burning incense to fumigate clothes was popular among literati and scholars in the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, which became an important scene in the lives of literati and scholars. In terms of religious use, the trend of building Buddhist temples in various places in the Southern and Northern Dynasties was quite popular, and incense burners as sacrificial and Buddhist utensils were also widely used. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, due to the prevalence of Buddhism, the prosperous economy, and the large-scale circulation of foreign spices, the design of incense burners began to have new styles.

Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

In addition to the Boshan-style incense burners, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties also saw the emergence of open three-legged and five-legged incense burners made of celadon or white porcelain. Their stable shapes are very similar to the incense burners that can be seen today, and they are equipped with elegant and exquisitely crafted spiral handles, simple and lustrous colored glaze incense burners, showing the trend of advocating simplicity and nature at that time. The ear-type porcelain incense burners used by the people are also commonly seen in unearthed cultural relics. The incense burner ears are quite practical, in order to facilitate carrying and moving, and their decorative function and practical effect are perfectly combined. In addition, the utensils attached to the incense burner include incense shovels, incense picks, incense chopsticks, incense boxes, etc., which are all utensils for adding incense and burning incense.

In addition, a pot-shaped copper incense burner was also popular at that time. Its style changed from the simple round belly with holes in the early stage, without supporting columns and bottom plates, to the pot-shaped incense burner with small mouth, bulging belly and holes, thick and straight cylindrical supporting columns, and wide-rimmed plate-shaped supporting seats. Basically, the development of the shape of incense burners during this period was from simple to complex and delicate, and the design of details such as vents became more and more suitable for burning various spices.

Sui and Tang Dynasties

Compared with the previous dynasties, the shape of incense burners in the Sui and Tang Dynasties showed the characteristics of "lightweight". The number of relatively "heavy" incense burners such as Boshan furnace and Dun-style furnace decreased, and most of the incense burners no longer had supporting plates. The more common ones are ring-foot furnaces and four-foot and five-foot furnaces with higher feet; there are more Buddhist-style incense burners, as well as "pagoda-style furnaces", the furnace cover simulates the dome of the pagoda, often with five feet or high ring feet; Boshan furnaces also have many decorations such as precious beads and flowers, and the furnace body often has lotus shapes; others include tripod furnaces (three feet), high-foot cup furnaces and other styles.

Heyday: Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing To The Republic Of China

Since the Song Dynasty, many foreign spices have been introduced into China through southern ports such as Guangzhou, and the use of incense has become more and more common. Not only the royal family likes to use incense, but ordinary people also often light incense at home. The whole society can be said to be immersed in this kind of life with fragrance. At that time, the craftsmanship of making incense burners and incense utensils also reached a very high level.

From the perspective of the style of incense burners, the Song Dynasty is actually a period of transition. As early as the Tang Dynasty, incense burners began to become lighter, and in the Song Dynasty, this trend became more obvious. Many incense burners are made small, simple, and relatively "light", which is more suitable for daily use.

There was also a special change at that time, that is, many incense burners without lids appeared, or the lids were made very simple, such as cylindrical and three-legged incense burners. This may be related to the popularity of incense sticks, because incense sticks do not require too complicated burners. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, incense sticks became more popular, and there were more and more incense burners without lids.

Modern Chinese Incense Burners: Simple And Stylish

Nowadays, people use incense burners not necessarily for rituals or religion, but more to relax and add a sense of "quietness" to their lives. Especially the incense burners with backflow incense, watching the smoke slowly flow down like a small waterfall, it is really healing. It is suitable for placing on a desk, coffee table or bedroom corner. Just putting it at hand is a sense of atmosphere.

It can be said that the modern Chinese incense burner is a kind of beauty that combines tradition and daily life. It not only continues the cultural memory of the older generation, but also becomes a small outlet for young people to find inner peace.