The Religious and Technological History of the Tang Dynasty Spherical Incense Burner

Abstract

This article introduces and explores, for the first time in any Western language, the gilde dsilver xiangnang (spherical incense burner) from Famen Temple, one of the largest xiangnang incense burners found in the Tang dynasty. The spherical incense burner evolved from censers for bedclothes known as beizhong xianglu (literally “perfume burner [to be placed] among the covers [of the bed], used as a warming device), which are chronicled as early as the Han dynasty in texts such as Xijing zaji (Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital). The silver spherical incense burner spread from China to the Islamic world and Venice, possibly influencing the development of the gyroscope for maritime navigation in Europe. This paper further examines thespherical incense burner’s relation to a device known as the Cardan Suspension (used to facilitate seafaring) and to the ritual of incense burning (imagined as a way to figuratively reach another world). It also discusses the spherical incense burner’s impact on similar objects from the Islamic world and Venice.