Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje

Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje
Essence of Baekje Culture

The Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje(National Treasure No. 287) is the essence of culture reflecting the outstanding Baekjean artistic sensibility and technical capability as well as their religious and philosophical ideologies.

The Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje was excavated in 1993 at the former site of an ancient temple(Historic Site No. 434) in Neungsan-ri, Buyeo-gun.

The incense burner consists largely of three parts, ie, a cover, a body, and a base.

The cover is topped with a phoenix, the mythical numinous creature, standing upright with its wings wide open.

Beneath the divine bird, the numerous peaks, and ridges representing the Daoist utopia inhabited by the immortals, including human figures such as five musicians, animals, and mythical divine beings.

There are twelve holes among the peaks and ridges which diffuse holy incense smoke from the burner during the ceremony.

The body of the incense burner is decorated with lotus petals with human figures, animals and mythical creatures placed among them.

The body is supported by the base, shaped with a dragon dynamically flying through the air.

Incense burners of this type, the manifestations of the ideal Daoist world of immortal beings, are categorized as the Baksan censers, named after the mountain of immortality in Daoist beliefs.

While the Baksan censers were originated from the Han dynasty (202 BCE - 220 CE) of China, the Baekje artisans went few steps further and added their own aesthetic and creativity to them, creating such great works of art as one of a kind.

The incense burner, 61,8 centimeters tall and 11,8 kilograms in weight, was the first cast by pouring molten bronze and then the unmolded body was gilt.