Bronze Incense Burner with Silver-inlaid Willow and Waterfowl Design

A hyangno is a ritual implement used in Buddhist temples for burning incense during ceremonies or placed on an altar. One with a bowl-shaped body, a trumpet-shaped flaring foot and a disc-shaped base is specifically called a hyangwan. This bronze incense burner is decorated over its entire surface using the eunipsa technique, in which grooves are cut into the metal and fine silver wire is inlaid to form a design. Decoration of this kind is a common feature of hyangwan and metalwork of the Goryeo period. It measures 30.4 cm in height, 27.5 cm in mouth diameter and 22.3 cm in base diameter. The body of the incense burner is engraved with a scene of ducks swimming beneath willow trees beside water. There is also an ancestral-tablet-shaped decoration set with a lotus design, within which an inscription of 34 characters in five lines is inlaid using the same technique, though its content does not reveal the date the incense burner was made. The upper part of the pedestal bears a lotus design, the trumpet-shaped foot bears a vine-scroll design, and the base is engraved with a cloud design. The willow-and-waterfowl design was mainly used on Goryeo inlaid celadon and metal kundika (ritual water sprinklers), but rarely appears on hyangwan, which makes this incense burner especially valuable.

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Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물