Page 481 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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Openwork parcel-gilt silver censer
5
Length of chain 17.7 (9 /8), diam. of censer 5.8 (5)
Tang Dynasty, ninth century CE
From the pagoda of the Famen Monastery at Fufeng,
Shaanxi Province
Famensi Museum, Fufeng, Shaanxi Province

Two of the censers found in the Famen Monastery
pagoda deposit are spherical in shape, each sus-
pended from a hook by means of a chain and swivel.
Both of them are recorded in the inventory stele as
having been donated by Emperor Sizong in 874.
They were found stored inside the parcel-gilt silver
!
tea basket (cat. 165). The larger of the two is 12.8
centimeters in diameter, not as large as the pair
preserved in the Shoso-in Treasury in Japan (each
18 centimeters in diameter), but larger than most
other known examples from the Tang dynasty: two
excavated from Xi'an are each only 4.8 centimeters
2
in diameter. Four have been excavated from the
same area, and others are in private collections
around the world.
The pattern of the smaller censer, 3 rendered
in openwork with additional chasing, elegantly
complements that of the larger ball-censer. The
latter has six medallions on each of its two hemi-
spheres, which are hinged together and fastened
with a hook and eye. The smaller censer has three
larger medallions, each with a broad gilt band with
flying birds and an openwork center. Because of
this censer's small size, the medallions are split
between its two hemispheres, and inverted isosceles
triangles are positioned between them. The surface
of both censers is filled with foliage and flowers on
a ring-punched ground.
The most striking feature of such globular
censers is the interior gimbal mechanism, which
enables the incense materials to smolder safely
without any danger to the person carrying it about
or keeping it within his or her clothing for warmth
and perfume. In this example, the mechanism con-
sists of two rings 4.8 and 3.8 centimeters in diame-
ter, within which is suspended a shallow bowl, 2.8
centimeters in diameter and i.o centimeters deep.

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