Bronze Incense Burner with Inscription of "Heungwangsa Temple" and Silver-inlaid Design

Among burners for incense, one with a foot spreading like a trumpet, like this, was called a hyangwan in the Goryeo period. This one is 40.1 cm high and 30 cm across the mouth, in three parts: stand, body and mouth. The mouth has a broad horizontal rim decorated with beading and carved with lotus and scrolls inlaid in silver. On the body, flower-shaped panels are set opposite each other, with dragons and phoenixes finely inlaid in silver within them. Reeds and lotus fill the remaining space, with wild geese above and ducks below, all inlaid in silver. The trumpet stand is marked at its upper edge by a thick double line, with scrolls rising up it, grasses at the bottom and flowers on the foot, all in silver inlay. The inlay shows outstanding skill and has high painterly value. An inscription of 34 characters runs round the foot of the stand; its cyclical year gichuk shows that the burner was made around 1289 for Heungwangsa in Gaepung. With its refined inlaid dragons and phoenixes and its known date, it is an important Goryeo incense burner.

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Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Treasure · 국보