Syria (Mamluk Sultanate, 1250–1517)
Around 1280–90
Brass, hammered, pierced, chased and inlaid with silver
Diameter: 5.3 cm
Aromatics were prized in the medieval Islamic world for ceremonial and personal use, and finely inlaid incense burners were used by courtiers and wealthy patrons.
This piece comprises interlocking hemispheres featuring the sun surrounded by personifications of the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. References to astronomy and the related, popular practice of astrology were customary decorative themes.
Originally this incense burner contained a small central cup (gimbal) to keep the fragrance and the coal heating it level. Incense burners came in different sizes and could be suspended from chains, held in the hand, or rolled across the floor from one person to another. This is one of the earliest incense burners known, and possibly the smallest.
Courtauld insight
‘The little incense burner, a functional object, asks us to see it as a work of art. It invokes sensory experiences inherent in the object: holding it in the palm of the hand, touching its bumpy surfaces, feeling its weight. It wants us to imagine the smell of incense wafting from the perforated surfaces as it is rolled across the carpeted floor.’
Sussan Babaie, Professor in the Arts of Iran and Islam, The Courtauld