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Incense Burner

Maker

Mamluk (Syria) 13th century (metalworker)
1200-1299

Title

Incense Burner

Date of Production

c. 1280-90

Medium

metalworked brass and silver inlay

Dimensions

Diameter: 5.3 cm

Accession Number

O.1966.GP.207

Mode of Acquisition

Gambier Parry, bequest, 1966

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

On display

Keywords




Label Text

Aromatics were prized in the Medieval Islamic world for ceremonial and personal use, and finely inlaid incense burners were used by courtiers and wealthy patrons. This piece comprises interlocking hemispheres featuring the sun surrounded by personifications of the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. References to astronomy and the related, popular practice of astrology were customary decorative themes.

Originally this incense burner contained a small central cup (gimbal) to keep the fragrance and the coal heating it level. Incense burners came in different sizes and could be suspended from chains, held in the hand, or rolled across the floor from one person to another. This is one of the earliest incense burners known, and possibly the smallest.

Provenance

Information not yet known or updated

Exhibition History

Islamic Metalwork Touring Highlights Exhibition, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, 27/09/2019-12/01/2020; Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, 18/01/2020-20/09/2020; Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford, 10/09/2020-10/01/2021; Holburne Museum, Bath, 17/05/2021-01/08/2021

The Gambier-Parry Collection, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London

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