Here for your consideration is an exquisite, vintage, Chinese Oriental, miniature, bronze incense burner of baluster form with duo handles and decorated with a brown dragon, set in relief to the lid. Around the circumference are a further six dragon heads, again set in relief, complete with pierced open mouths, for incense smoke release. The patina/patination of this incense burner is absolutely exquisite and beautifully decorated with really sharp, sculptured, bronze/metal relief workmanship. This incense burner is in wonderful original condition with no chips, cracks, hairlines, fleabites, dents or restoration. It does have some beautiful, age-related patina, commensurate with age, but nothing unusual. At around 2000 BCE, Ancient China began the use of incense in the religious sense, namely for worship. Incense was used by Chinese cultures from Neolithic times and became more widespread in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. The earliest documented use of incense comes from the ancient Chinese, who employed incense composed of herbs and plant products (such as cassia, cinnamon, styrax, and sandalwood) as a component of numerous formalised ceremonial rites. Incense usage reached its peak during the Song Dynasty with numerous buildings erected specifically for incense ceremonies. Height: 3.25 inches or 8.3 cm. Width: 4 inches or 10.2 cm (including handles). Depth: 3 inches or 7.6 cm. Weight: 8.1 oz or 231 grams. This is as good as it gets with regards ornamental incense burners. How many of these have you seen, still intact and undamaged. You might never find another one this good and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about antiques/collectables when items are of quality and extremely rare he who hesitates usually loses out. This rare, vintage, dragon encrusted incense burner would add value to any Chinese collection. A real must for any serious collector. Interesting, Oriental incense burners have become so very sought-after/collectable and are appreciating in value. They would make an ideal gift or solid future investment. Please note, all our international postal charges are only estimates. And will be confirmed and altered up or down when we know the destination of where items are being sent. Please feel free to look at my other items. This item is in the category “Antiques\Asian/Oriental Antiques\Chinese\Other Chinese”. The seller is “two.twenty.two.antiques” and is located in this country: GB. This item can be shipped worldwide.

• Region of Origin: Chinese
• Product: Incense Burner
• Primary Material: Bronze