This paper introduces the ancient incense burner and the incense used.

Category: Culture/Art >> Folk Tradition

Analysis:

Buddhist incense burner

Incense burner refers to the utensils and appliances used to burn incense. In addition to the most common incense burners, there are hand stoves, smoked balls, sachets, incense trays, and incense seals and incense pots filled with incense powder, all of which belong to the category of incense burners.

These kinds of rich incense are mainly used to match different types of incense burning or steaming. In addition to practicality, based on aesthetic and decorative considerations, the shape, shape and color of the incense burner are even more dazzling. Coupled with curled cigarettes and beautiful fragrance, the use of incense has reached the extreme.

Incense burning utensils can be roughly divided into the following categories:

1, incense burner: refers to a round incense burner that can burn incense, incense, pills and powder.

2. Incense burner: it is dedicated to burning horizontal incense, that is, incense burner for lying incense.

3. Incense cone: long tube aromatherapy, used for linear incense.

4. Incense burner: refers to the incense burner with bamboo sticks as the column foot specially used for burning incense. Mostly made of metal or stone, it is used for incense during the ceremony to avoid the high temperature of the incense burner.

5. Incense burner: the so-called handle incense burner mainly burns incense pills and incense sticks, which is convenient to hold in class.

6. Smoked ball: It is a hollow ball with incense burning inside. No matter how the ball rotates, the fragrance in the ball can remain horizontal and will not fall off.

7. sachet: it refers to a fragrant utensil that puts all kinds of spices and seasonings into sachets and wears them on the body to give off fragrance.

Different spices emit fragrance in different ways, and also have special effects. Generally speaking, it can be divided into three ways: burning, fumigation and natural emission, and different incense burners are used together. Such as vanilla, agarwood and fragrant pills. The combination of thread incense, coil incense and powder incense must be burned, and resin incense such as borneol must be smoked; That is, incense on hot charcoal blocks. The fragrant products blended in sesame oil naturally volatilize and emit fragrance. In addition, all kinds of fragrant herbs and fragrant flowers are also put into fragrant flowers and sachets, so that they naturally emit fragrance. Powder mixed with several spices, usually wrapped in tissue paper and put into a small bag.

With the more and more extensive use of incense, the style of incense has also been surprisingly refurbished. From the appearance of incense to the present, the evolution of incense has almost formed a unique art, which has enabled people to achieve a sublimation of beauty in their sense of smell and visual artistic conception.

Brief Introduction of Incense Vessels in China in Past Dynasties

When Buddhism was introduced into China, the history of using incense was very long. After Buddhism was introduced into China, a large number of important spices and concepts and methods of using incense were introduced. As a result, incense jumped from an accessory in life to an important scene in the lives of royal nobles and literati.

As early as the Warring States Period, China had the custom of burning incense indoors, and the burning spices were mainly herbs. In fact, incense originated in ancient times when people smoked to eliminate mosquitoes and dirty air.

There is a record in Zhou Li: "It is a common pest to kill silkworms with simple palms, attack them with attack, and smoke them with weeds." The ancients burning incense can also be said to be a clean environment. Before producing a special incense burner, China used a common copper charcoal burner to incense.

China people began to burn incense indoors from the Warring States period, but the incense utensils specially designed for burning incense did not appear until the Han Dynasty.

The shape of China incense burners began with bronze incense burners in the Warring States Period, and various incense burners appeared in later dynasties. Materials include pottery, porcelain, bronzes, gold-plated silverware, cloisonne enamel, painted enamel, bamboo and wood utensils, jade and so on.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, the "Wang Ziying Secondary Furnace" made of copper and charcoal was used for indoor heating. This kind of copper charcoal stove is still in use in later generations.

Since the Han Dynasty, a special incense burner, Boshan Furnace, has been produced. Boshan is said to be the fairy mountain in the East China Sea. Boshan furnace cover is carved into the shape of a mountain with figures, animals and other patterns on the mountain. When the incense burner is full of curled cigarettes, it is like a mist that winds around the mountain all year round. Boshan Furnace prevailed in the Han and Wei Dynasties when the immortal theory prevailed.

In the Han Dynasty, aromatherapy specially designed for burning incense appeared, and incense burners in Dali were also unearthed in Han tombs all over the country, which shows that the incense custom was very common at that time. In the Han dynasty, incense was more popular in the south than in the north. Among the more than 400 Han tombs in Guangzhou, * * * has one or two incense burners.

In Cai Yong's "Han Guan Yi" in the Han Dynasty, there is a document about incense: "Xuan Shi, the waitress, smoked in a incense burner."

Many bean-shaped incense burners have been unearthed in the tombs of the early Western Han Dynasty in Guangzhou and Changsha, but they appeared late in the Central Plains. It can be seen from this kind of aromatherapy unearthed specifically for incense that the custom of incense was gradually promoted from south to north, and many high-grade spices were also introduced into China from the South China Sea. According to Records of the Historian (Biography of Huo Zhi), borneol was not uncommon in Guangzhou during the Western Han Dynasty.

After passing through the western regions, Korea also imported Styrax from the west by land. "The Book of Ban Gu Di Chao": "Zhong Ling sets seven OO horses and three OO essence, and hopes to use the moon horse and Su Hexiang in the city." This is silk, essence and other fabrics of the Han Dynasty, which are used to buy Yueshi horse and Styrax. The Book of the Later Han Dynasty said that the State of Daqin "thought it was peace when it was fried with incense."

The Yuefu poems of the Han Dynasty also said: "Where do you come from, and where does the nation come from? You can find roots, roots, roots, roots, roots, fans, Ai and Dou Liang. " Among them, Douliangxiang is a famous ancient herb.

Among the fragrant products of Han Dynasty, there are dried vegetation, resin borneol and storax. After drying, the fragrance of herbs is combustible. For full combustion, there are usually air holes under the furnace body. Some designs have a shallow furnace body and a raised furnace cover with several layers of holes. This kind of stove is also very bulky. At the same time, in order to accommodate the ash falling from the air inlet, there is usually a bearing plate.

Resin perfumes such as borneol and storax must be smoked on other fuels, so this kind of furnace body is deep, and red-hot carbon blocks can be put, sometimes silver foil or mica can be added, and then resin perfumes can be smoked slowly. There are charcoal and spices in the Han dynasty aromatherapy unearthed.

Incense wares in the Southern Jin Dynasty

Among the literati in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, the custom of bathing with incense and wearing fragrant clothes began to prevail. The custom of fumigating clothes appeared in the Han Dynasty. In the tomb of Zhongjing Wang Liu Sheng in Mancheng, Hebei Province, bronze fumigators and lifting cages were unearthed for fumigating clothes. Among the cultural relics unearthed from Mawangdui No.1 Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province, there is a fumigation cage specially used to fumigate clothes.

Xun in the Three Kingdoms is good at incense. The literature records: "Xun Ling sat in someone else's house for three days, and the fragrance was inexhaustible." Because Xunzi often makes his clothes exude a strong fragrance, when he goes to other people's homes, the place where he sits often leaves a fragrance, which has not dispersed for three days. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, scholars also used the fragrance of Dalbergia odorifera as a metaphor for the profoundness of learning.

Among the popular aromatherapy styles in the Southern Jin Dynasty, from the Three Kingdoms and Five Dynasties to the late Southern Dynasties, the styles of round pot incense burners and tray bean incense burners can be roughly divided into four periods:

The first period: from the middle period of Sun Wu to the end of Western Jin Dynasty (AD 254-3 16).

The first phase of aromatherapy is simple in shape, pot-shaped as a whole, with a small mouth, a bulging and round belly. There are three rows of round holes carved in the upper abdomen, and there are no bearing columns and chassis.

The second stage: the second stage of aromatherapy in the early Eastern Jin Dynasty "from the founding of the Eastern Jin Dynasty to Moody's Uprising" (AD 3 17-357), the aromatherapy body is a short straight-mouthed round-bellied pot with a large triangular carved hole in the abdomen, and the load-bearing column is also a cylinder with a small top and a small bottom, and the load-bearing plate is a flat-bottomed almshouse.

The third stage: the third stage of aromatherapy, soy sauce, pot-shaped smoked body from the late Eastern Jin Dynasty to the southern Liu Song Dynasty (AD 357-479), with a small mouth and a bulging belly, the abdomen is covered with dense carved holes in the Yangtze River Delta, cylindrical columns, thick and short, and the seat is a wide-sided disc.

Phase IV: It corresponds to the Phase IV of Qi, Liang and chandy in the middle and late Southern Dynasties (AD 48O-5 * * *), and no aromatherapy instruments were found.

Xiang opera in Sui and Tang Dynasties

Since the Buddhism of Emperor Hanming of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was introduced to China, incense burning ceremony and confession can almost always be seen in the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the gods or ancestors of heaven and earth. Even, some people put incense in the street, which makes the demand for incense even greater. The third volume of Wenchang Zalu records: "Every good deed in the Tang Palace is divided into borneol and Yujin."

Incense wares in the Tang Dynasty also began to have new styles. Such as: multi-foot aromatherapy, smoked balls, long-handled hand stoves, mostly made of metal or gold-plated silver. Refined metal balls and aromatherapy were very popular in the Tang Dynasty. The covered multi-foot copper aromatherapy in Tang Dynasty is unique, and there are also some extractors.

In the Tang Dynasty, the emperor relic greeted Sakyamuni Buddha many times and sent him back to Famen Temple. Among the cultural relics of Famen Temple, gold-plated silver aromatherapy and gold-plated silver fragrant balls are real relics specially for seeing the royal family off.

Incense wares in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties

Song people often used incense burners and incense boxes at the same time when burning incense. This can be seen from the action of taking pictures and incense in the Song Dynasty. The perfumer took out the fragrant pills with his forefinger and thumb and put them in a stove full of white ash. In the Song Dynasty, it was also popular to press spices into "incense seals", press powder spice molds into fixed shapes, and then ignite them.

A large number of spices were imported in the Song Dynasty, and in the Northern Song Dynasty, fragrant medicine was one of the largest items in the income of trading companies. Zhenlai, Boni, Puduan, Annan and other places are rich in frankincense, borneol and incense, and incense medicine is also the main tribute of North Korea. Some fragrant products, such as frankincense, are listed as prohibited items, which are monopolized by * * * * and are not allowed to be traded privately.

Although the import of incense medicine in Song Dynasty was large, it was still in short supply. Incense was widely used in Song Dynasty, and a lot of incense was burned. Sacrificial ceremonies, official banquets, civil and military examinations for officials, and subsequent banquets and birthdays in the same year all need incense.

There was also a so-called "tasting incense" in the Song Dynasty, that is, burning incense outdoors. Sometimes, in the "poetry meditation hall" in the garden, it is one of the important programs in the life of the Song Dynasty to try out new incense and evaluate the smell of incense, the shape of incense mist and the long-lasting burning of cigarettes.

Song people paid special attention to the method of incense. After the incense was lit, it was not put into the fire. The incense burner was covered with thick ashes with heat preservation function, and a small piece of red-hot charcoal was buried in the middle, and then covered with a thin layer, revealing only a little ash. Use a thin silver sheet to separate the fire, and put the incense on the thin silver sheet to smoke and bake. The fragrance is natural and comfortable, and there is no smoke drying. Note that charcoal block is not just ordinary charcoal, but refined charcoal.

In addition, Song people also used incense seals. Among all kinds of service industries in the residential area of Hangzhou City in the Southern Song Dynasty, there is a service industry that specializes in "offering incense and printing plates". They hired a fixed "mat shop" to print incense seals every day and collect incense money every month.

There are many special shapes in the incense burner in the Song Dynasty, such as Song Yingqing's bird-shaped incense burner now in the Chicago Museum of Art (112nd century). A mandarin duck-like waterfowl squatted on the incense burner cover, with two layers of lotus petals and plates attached to the burner. There are fancy feet at the bottom of the dish. The incense burner escapes from the bird's mouth, and there are small air holes on the furnace body to let cigarettes float out from the bird's mouth above. In the Song Dynasty, another kind of bean-shaped incense burner was very popular. It was shaped like Gao Zubei.

Complete sets of incense sticks were popular in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as "one furnace and two bottles" in Yuan Dynasty. "Furnace, bottle, box" appeared in the paintings of Ming Dynasty and16th century. This combined incense burner is convenient for storing incense sticks and shovels.

In the Ming Dynasty, Jiajing Imperial Kiln also had the so-called "Five Sacrifices". These five offerings are complete sets of offerings with one furnace, two candlesticks and two vases, which are used for sacrificial ceremonies, ancestral temples, temples and other formal occasions. The prevalence of bronze incense burners in Ming Dynasty was related to a large number of refined bronze incense burners in Xuande period. During the Xuande period, more than 3,300 Xuande furnaces were cast with tens of thousands of catties of copper tribute from Thailand. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, a large number of bronze incense burners were produced by the people, and they were well designed. The prevalence of bronze incense burners was related to the prevalence of burning incense sticks of various grades at that time.

Types of spices

incense burner

Incense burner is the most common vessel for burning incense. Its main purpose is not only to let the ashes after burning incense have a fixed place to collect, but also to add infinite spiritual beauty to the process of offering sacrifices.

On the raw materials for making incense burners, there are probably ceramics, stones, metals and so on.

Generally speaking, the incense burner made of ceramics has a lot of shape changes, mostly round, because the soil is highly plastic; Or carved patterns, or plastic lotus lining as the bottom. , suitable for incense, incense and powder. There are also ceramic incense burners, and the shape and color have not changed much.

In addition, there is a stone incense burner, which is more laborious to make than a ceramic incense burner, because its carving must be integrally formed, otherwise all previous efforts may be in vain after one carving is broken. In the choice of stone materials, there are marble and agate stones.

Incense burners, vases and candlesticks stand in front of the Buddha and are called one of the three legs. Most of them are made of metal. ? Stone, magnetism, pottery, rosewood, etc. Various shapes can be roughly divided into four categories:

1. Incense burners placed on the table, such as Boshan, Flametongue, Jinshan Temple, Octopus, Ding, Ding, and Incense Plate.

2. Incense burners held in your hand, such as lotus, lion, magpie tail, etc.

3. Incense burner used in meditation.

4. When empathizing, the recipient crosses over and looks like a stove with a clean body.

In ancient times, when the Buddha went to worship, he held a censer in his hand; The handle incense burner of later generations inherited this legacy. Among the Buddhist relics found in Xinjiang, murals can be presumed to be Buddhist paintings in the Tang Dynasty, and some believers hold incense burners and bow down for a long time. A slightly higher base is attached to the lower part of this incense burner.

In addition, the fire house is also a kind of incense burner, and it is one of the esoteric artifacts, and later generations are listed as one of the first four feet of the Buddha.

The materials and methods of burning incense are closely related to the design of the stove. From the late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, bronze incense burners were popular, with thick walls and various shapes, including bamboo joints, loose stems, ancient bronzes and lion statues. The incense used is thymelaeaceae block. The wood block is directly lit by candlelight and then inserted into the ashes in the furnace. The composition of furnace ash is burning incense, which is used for heat preservation and ventilation.

Incense burners made of other materials also have thermal insulation sand such as quartz sand placed at the bottom of the furnace, which plays a role in thermal insulation and prevents the furnace wall from overheating and cracking. And copper incense burners, especially those with thick tires, are not too worried about overheating and cracking, and can constantly insert lit incense sticks. At present, most of the copper incense burners are used to light upright incense sticks, which are relatively safe when people pray for blessings and incense is at its peak, while most of them are small incense burners at home and in study, mostly used as large-scale sacrifices.

Boshan road

Influenced by the immortal alchemist's thought, Boshan furnace appeared in the Han Dynasty, and celadon incense burner appeared in the Jin Dynasty, which was an instrument for indoor incense and filth removal. The cover of Boshan furnace is decorated with sacred mountains, rare birds and animals, and immortals, which represents the popular immortal thought in Han Dynasty.

Most of these Boshan furnaces have a phoenix standing on the top. Some Boshan furnaces have strange designs. For example, there are Hu people who are designed to ride exotic animals, holding Boshan furnace in their hands, and people and animals become bases. The furnace cover is fairy mountain, four-spirit animals "Qinglong, White Tiger, Xuanwu, Suzaku" and other exotic animals and immortals. The incense burner in the furnace floated out of the hole. There are stories of mountains, rivers, animals and immortals on the stove cover.

Boshan furnace, decorated with mountains, beasts and immortals, has gradually matured and shaped. The furnace cover is decorated with fairy mountains and birds, which has a strong immortal thought.

Boshan Furnace in Sui and Tang Dynasties is different from Boshan Furnace in Jin Dynasty.

For example, the pavilion floating figure of Yungang No.2 Cave, the niches of No.7, No.8, No.9 and No.10 Cave, cornices and Boshan Furnace, as well as dragons, gluttons, suzaku and white tigers as decorative patterns. The tenth hole has a flying sky carved by the Northern Wei Dynasty, in which Boshan furnace is held for four days. The furnace type is a furnace cover with undulating mountains, and the furnace body is tall and bean-shaped, with S-shaped ears on both sides of the furnace body.

handwarmer

The hand-held incense burner is a long-handled incense burner held by the walker, which is used to incense the Buddha.

It is recorded in Fa Zhu Yuan Lin that Huang Qiong, a heaven and man, said that there was a Buddha incense burner: "A little cloud: there are sixteen white elephants in front, and a lotus platform is set on the heads of the two beasts as the burner. Later, some disciples squatted on it, and there was a golden terrace around Jinhua. The Buddha said that this furnace is often held. This view of the world's hand stove system is a bit imitated. "

A bronze incense burner was unearthed from the tomb of Tang Dynasty at No.2 Chifeng Mountain in Changsha, Hunan Province. The base is covered with lotus flowers, and a small pillar is connected with the fragrant bucket. There is a gilded beast on the handle of the cylinder. When unearthed, the incense burner was full of incense embers for the Buddha.

There is also a copper incense burner, a spherical furnace body, a conical furnace cover and a trumpet-shaped base. It was broken when it was unearthed. Handstoves of the same style have also appeared in the tombs of the Tang Dynasty in various places, which shows that hand stoves are still quite popular in the Tang Dynasty. Although there were Boshan burners, fragrant balls and aromatherapy in the incense burners in the Tang Dynasty, the incense burners in the murals of Buddhist grottoes were mainly hand burners and Boshan burners.

In the paintings of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, it is often seen that the providers hold hand stoves. For example, in the collection of the British Museum, there is a picture of a colored silk guide bodhisattva in Dunhuang in the Tang Dynasty, in which the bodhisattva holds a bronze hand stove.

In ancient paintings, you can also see a large number of arhat paintings and hand stoves in Buddha rituals. We can see that the hand stove with long handle is used with the incense box, and the incense used is granular or pellet. That is, the so-called pill incense or small pieces of borneol.

Jia Qinglu, Volume 8, Burning Douxiang, said: "Incense, with thread incense as the bucket, with incense as the bucket, with crumbs in the middle, is bought by monks and customs, and burned under the moon, which is called burning Douxiang."

You Song Zhen Du Shi Shixiang: The fragrance pattern is even and fine, and the length is woven into a pattern; Only sandalwood and sawdust are combined together, so it is not advisable to recommend Gong Qiong to match wine. Beautiful women withdraw their accounts and have frequent waist folds. Astrology handle is empty, Wu vulgar tells the Mid-Autumn Festival story, and returns to the breeze alone.

a kind of fragrant herb

There is also a special-shaped smoked ball in the incense burner, which is very special. The appearance of autumn hunting began from Wu Zetian to Xuanzong in Tang Dynasty, and it was popular in Xi, Shaanxi Province. This kind of smoked ball is mostly long-chain spherical. The ball is hollow and divided into upper and lower halves, which are connected by riveted leaf tenons. There is a small cup in the ball, which is hung in the center by a bearing shaft, and the small cup can be kept horizontal at any time. Therefore, no matter how the fumigation ball rotates, the small cup always remains horizontal, and the burning incense in the cup can keep balance at any time and will not fall over.

Incense balls, also called incense balls, can be placed in the quilt to incense, but cigarettes will not go out. Article 22 of Xiangqiu in Yi Heng's book "Stay Youth Tomorrow" says: "Today, the gold-plated Xiangqiu is like a celestial instrument. Among the three levels, the weight is appropriate, and it is constantly turned around, placed in the quilt, the fire is not extinguished, the flowers are exquisite, and the smoke is printed everywhere." The meatballs smoked in Zhengcangyuan in the Tang Dynasty were incense burners.

In the Song Dynasty, there were incense players in the Royal Musical Instrument Team. According to documents, in the thirteenth year of Xichun, the father of Tai Huang celebrated his eightieth birthday. Filial piety went to Deshou Palace to offer condolences, and officials of civil and military affairs accompanied him in royal robes. In addition to 534 French drivers, there are 48 musicians, 188 musicians and etiquette advocates. There are two people each holding a fragrant ball. Xiangyun escaped from the fragrant ball. In the Song Dynasty, women traveled by car, and some ladies-in-waiting held incense balls, and the ladies-in-waiting held small incense balls in their sleeves, so the cigarettes were like clouds and the dust was fragrant when the car passed by.

Even the wedding procession of Hangzhou people in the Southern Song Dynasty is very useful, that is, smoked meatballs. First of all, the man's family will choose a time for "Xing Lang" to bring vases, fragrant balls, candles, salons for washing, dressing and taking photos, skirts, suitcases, knots, umbrellas, chairs and sedan chairs (flower eaves) and advocate going to the woman's house to get married.

satchel

A kind of incense set which puts all kinds of spices and incense products in a bag and can be carried with you. Sachets for wearing can be seen everywhere in the records of the Song Dynasty. During the Dragon Boat Festival in the Southern Song Dynasty, concubines, concubines and attendants were given green leaves, five-color sunflower pomegranates, golden silk fans, pearls, bracelets, prayer tubes, sachets, soft fragrant dragon saliva, purple exercises, kudzu vine and red bananas. Daogongtang sent more symbols to wear. The general public "set up big pots at home, plant different kinds of anemones, hang up five-color paper bags and set up fruit jiaozi." Even the poor. "On June 6th, Cui Fujun's birthday will be celebrated, and the lively temple fair also has banners, that is, throwing money to win prizes or prizes, including sachets, painting fans and pearls.

Xiangtong

The incense cone is a linear incense burner, also known as the "incense cage", which is different from the small cone for inserting incense. The incense cone popular in Ming and Qing dynasties is long and straight, with a flat top cover and a flat seat, and the outer wall is decorated with hollow patterns. Usually there is a small cannula in the barrel, which is easy to insert incense. This kind of incense contains no bamboo core.

The incense cones in the Ming and Qing Dynasties were made of bamboo, jade and ivory. The Ming and Qing incense sticks exhibited in the Forbidden City include the Ming Dynasty carved bamboo incense sticks, the Qing Dynasty carved ivory plum blossom and sparrow incense sticks, and the small blue and white incense sticks used as incense sticks. In the tomb of Zhu Youmu, the king of Wang Ding in Cheng Nanyi Ming, Jiangxi Province, a hollowed-out cricket and jade incense cone were also found. The jade cone in Ming Yi Wang Ding's tomb is white in texture. The outer wall of the jade tube is hollowed out with plum blossom thorns, and the cover is engraved with thorns.

Xiangzhuan

Generally speaking, in order to facilitate the ignition of the powder, the powder can be stamped into a fixed font or pattern with a mold, and then burned out in sequence. This method is called "incense printing". The mold of seal seal is called "seal seal mold", which is mostly made of wood. The chapter "Xiangpu" in "Hundred Rivers Learning the Sea" says: "Carve wood as a model and incense as a seal script." This means that the fragrance printing mold is carved from wood, and the fragrance powder is imprinted into tangible patterns.

In ancient temples, incense seals were often burned to measure time. There are also people who burn incense and seal the secret. In Guanyin Bodhisattva's Great Mercy Seal, all the people in the legal circle are interested in enlightenment, making incense seals into seed seals and Li Li seals, and regarding incense burners as the legal circles. Li Li's wonderful incense seal represents great sorrow. When the incense seal burns in turn, the real truth appears. When it burns out, it represents all Buddhism. Those who practice Buddhism in this way can be blessed by observing the world safely and unhindered, just like delicate lotus flowers, which are loved and respected by everyone.

Incense seal, also known as incense seal, is to spread a layer of sand in the incense burner and imprint the dry powder into the shape of the seal. The glyph or figure is continuously stretched, and one end is ignited and then burns along the line. Because the used incense is powder, it is inconvenient to use it after lighting, and it is easy to damage the pattern when moving the mold.

There are records of incense in the notes of Song people. "Seal" is probably the impression of seal. "All kinds of groceries" in Volume 13 of Luo Lianglu said: "If you provide incense and print plates, the main managers will hold a banquet and leave every day, and it will take time until the month, as long as the incense money." It can be seen that there was a custom of hiring people to print and burn incense at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty.

In order to make the use of fragrant powder smoother, Song people also made sweet cakes, including heart-shaped "heart-shaped incense" sweet cakes and ring-shaped "ice ring and jade finger" sweet cakes. There is a sentence in Li's Tian Xiang Ci in Song Dynasty, "Try to pick the number of words in the heart", which shows that the sweet cake with the heart can be picked with your fingers, similar to the coil incense used in modern times.

Incense box

A incense box refers to a container for holding incense. Also used as incense pot, incense combination, incense letter and incense box. Painting is usually made of wood, but it is also made of pottery and metal. The common shape is oblate. There are two kinds of incense: big incense and small incense. Originally, it was one of the utensils for offering Buddha, and later it was used as a tea mat, with a different shape from the past.

In addition to incense boxes, incense trays are often seen. Incense tray refers to the tray for burning incense, also known as incense table and incense tray. A square table made of wood or metal, filled with incense in the shape of the Vatican, is usually lit and burned.

In addition, in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, most of the complete sets of incense sets were a combination of "stove, bottle and box", that is, the incense burner was equipped with incense box, and the bottle was used to place the incense shovel and incense sticks filled with incense powder.