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Incense burner: C.17 & A-1930

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An image of Incense burner
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Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Pottery: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Incense burner and cover with trigrams. Porcelain, thrown, with parts attached, pierced and glazed. The domed cover is pierced with four trigrams between rows of three holes. The handles are pierced with similar rows of holes and the foot has shaped openings. The glaze has a pale bluish-green tone and evenly covers the piece. Traces of dark fire-clay supports mixed with sand are found around the footring and the rim of the cover.

Notes

History note: Unknown before donor

Legal notes

Given by Dr W.M. Tapp

Measurements and weight

Height: 16.3 cm
Width: 15.6 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1926-02-15) by Tapp, W. M., Dr

Dating

19th Century
Choson Dynasty (1392 - 1910)
Circa 1800 - 1900

Note

Such censers were commonly used in the Choson period at ancestral ceremonies. The basic shape is derived from ancient Chinese bronzes, but the domed lid with faceted knob and the pierced decoration are more Korean. The trigrams appear as a group of eight in the Yijing, the Chinese Book of Changes, which makes it likely that two such incense burners decorated with different trigrams were used together as a pair.

Components of the work

Decoration composed of glaze
Foot Diameter 9 cm
Parts

Materials used in production

Porcelain

Techniques used in production

Throwing : Porcelain, thrown, with parts attached, pierced, and glazed
Glazing (coating)

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.17 & A-1930
Primary reference Number: 16533

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Monday 29 April 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Incense burner" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/16533 Accessed: 2025-12-08 06:44:56

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/16533 |title=Incense burner |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-08 06:44:56|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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