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Incense Burner (Xianglu)
China (probably from Hunan province)
Western Han dynasty, 206 BCE–9 CE
- Medium
- Gray earthenware with polychrome painting and openwork decoration
- Classification
- Vessel
- Dimensions
- 14.3 × 14.4 cm (5 5/8 × 5 11/16 in.); Diam.: 14.4 cm (5 11/16 in.)
- Culture
- China
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- Bequest of Russell Tyson
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This incense burner has a stemmed cup and a domed, openwork cover pierced with geometric patterns. Its design is distinctive to ceramics from south-central China that were made during the Western Han dynasty (206BCE–9 CE). It was probably modeled on a bronze incense burner cast with a perforated lid for the release of fragrant smoke. Other common forms from the Han dynasty are in the case to the right.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
