Incense Burner (Boshan Lu) (200–100 BCE): Art, History and Details

Incense Burner (Boshan Lu) (200–100 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The conical cover of this incense burner represents a miniature mountain with hunting scenes. The cover was shrouded in mist and emanated intoxicating smoke through its openwork when fragrant woods and herbs were burnt in its stem cup, transporting its beholder into an imaginative realm.

Object facts

• Title: Incense Burner (Boshan Lu)
• Date: 200–100 BCE
• Culture: China, Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–8 CE)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Diameter: 9.9 cm (3 7/8 in.); Overall: 18.4 cm (7 1/4 in.); Lid: 7.8 x 9.1 cm (3 1/16 x 3 9/16 in.); Container: 11.3 cm (4 7/16 in.)
• Collection: China - Han Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1986.46.b

A detail from the museum

Deities (appearing as hunters) and fantastic beasts roam freely among mists and clouds on this incense burner.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1986.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 74, no. 2, 1987, pp. 38–79.
• Delacour, Catherine. La Voie du Tao: un Autre Chemin de L'être : Galeries Nationales, Grand Palais, 29 Mars-5 Juillet 2010. Paris: Reunion des Musees Nationaux, 2010.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.