Great Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje

A Baekje incense burner found in a pit on the west side of a temple site between the Baekje outer city wall and the Neungsan-ri tombs, together with some 450 other objects. It is a large piece, 64 cm high and 11.8 kg in weight. It divides broadly into body and lid, and with the phoenix on top and the stand it has four parts. The lid shows a landscape of twenty-three peaks rising in four or five layers, range behind range. On it are sixteen figures — five musicians playing a flute, a small lute, a zither and drums, warriors, riders hunting on horseback — and thirty-nine animals, from the imaginary phoenix and dragon to tigers and deer. Six trees, twelve rocks, paths across the slopes, streams running between the hills, waterfalls and lakes are rendered with endless variety. On the summit, fitted separately, a phoenix stands strongly with wings spread, holding a magic jewel between its neck and beak; the softness of its long, slightly upturned tail is a Baekje trait. Five holes pierced in the phoenix's breast and in front of and behind the musicians let the incense smoke rise naturally from the body. The body recalls a lotus in full bloom, with twenty-six creatures — a phoenix, fish, deer, cranes — set on the surface of its petals. The stand is a single dragon, its head thrown up as though soaring skyward, holding the base of the lotus in its mouth. The burner seems to owe something to the boshan censers fashionable in Han China, but unlike the Chinese pieces its mountains are fully three-dimensional and its animals and figures realistic. It is the supreme masterpiece of Baekje metalwork: built on the creativity and sense of form of its age, it gives a comprehensive view of the blend of Daoism and Buddhism in the religion and thought of the time, and of its craft and art.

AI Translation

Visiting

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Buyeo, Chungnam

Designation

National Treasure · 국보