Page 115 - Chinese Art From The Scholars Studio, 2015, J.J. Lally, New York

65. A p o l i s h e d s t o n e C e n s e r
Early Tang Dynasty, 7th Century

of domed shape, the thick sides rounded up to a rimless circular aperture on top encircled by four
clusters of three vertical slots high on the sloping shoulders, the stone attractively mottled in olive-
brown and black, polished to a high gloss on the exterior.

Height 5 inches (12.7 cm)
Compare the Tang straw-glazed pottery incense burner of closely related form in the Avery Brundage Collection at the Asian
Art Museum, San Francisco, illustrated by He in Chinese Ceramics: The New Standard Guide, London, 1996, no. 127, where
the author notes the aristocratic practice of fumigating clothing using this type of incense burner, perhaps inspired by earlier
ritual practices. A Sui or early Tang straw-glazed pottery figure of a court lady holding a censer of this same form, also in the
Brundage Collection, is illustrated by He, ibid., no. 129. Compare also the Sui pottery tomb figure holding a censer of this form
discovered near Shachang, Yubei, Anyang district, Hebei province, in the tomb of Zhang Sheng, dated to A.D. 595, illustrated by
Tregear, Arts of China: Neolithic Cultures to the T’ang Dynasty - Recent Discoveries, Tokyo, 1968, fig. 352 (5).

初唐 滑石薰香 高 12.7 厘米