{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O497248"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O497248/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MB0376/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MB0376/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019MB0376","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MB0377","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O497248/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O497248","accessionNumber":"900-1874","objectType":"Incense burner","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Incense burner and lid.\r\nResearch by Maria Fabrizi – FEB. 1988\r\nThis object has a fifteenth century reign mark on the underside of the burner. It is one of a number of objects that were analysed by spectrographic methods, in Oxford, in about 1960. Both parts had been drilled for metal samples. The burner shows a drill-hole in the abraded underside of a foot, and the lid reveals a hole filled with resinous black material in the underside of the bamboo border. The results showed that both lid and burner were made from a copper-zinc alloy, with small amounts of tin and lead, and with quite low levels of impurities. The impurities seemed to be similar in each part, and antimony was absent from both.\r\nThe lid was cast to have openwork designs, with a border in the shape of bamboo stems. The elaborate knob is in the form of a beast on a pedestal, surrounded by what looks like a fringe of petals. The interior of the knob appears to have remained unfinished, and a probable sprue or runner remnant can be seen inside it. It would have been very difficult to remove once the object  had been made, but can only been seen a little from the outside. This lid seems to be a product of lost-wax casting. It is possible that the whole lid was cast in one piece. There are several tool marks inside, which seem to be from finishing of the object, and the colour is red-brown. The exterior is smooth, and is mostly yellow-brown. It has yellowish metal where it has been abraded.\r\nThe burner seems to have been made in one piece, except for two handles, which were apparently added with rivets and solder. The body shape is rectangular, and there are four legs in the shape of bamboo stems, connected by a bamboo border. Further decoration is in relief, and is a patterned band similar in design to the openwork of the lid. A plain band and another bamboo border complete the body. The metal is rather yellowish where abraded, but is mainly yellow-brown on the exterior.\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2019MB0376","2019MB0377"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES361576"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES361576"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Incense burner","id":""}],[{"text":"Lid","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"China","id":"x29398"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"11.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"10","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"7.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased from the Tayler Collection, accessioned in 1873. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.\r\nPart of a large group of Chinese and Indian objects purchased from Mr William Tayler, who had been an East India Company official and later a lawyer in Bengal between 1829-1867. In the 1850s and 1860s he built up a collection, primarily of  South Asian objects, but also of Chinese and Japanese pieces.There is a long report on the collection by Matthew Digby Wyatt, the museum’s Art Referee, but he makes not mention of provenance. The register notes that this object comes' From the Summer Palace, Pekin’, but there in no further information in the archive. The Summer Palace, or Yuanming Yuan, was the imperial summer retreat located north of Beijing, which was plundered and destroyed by British and French troops during the Second Opium War in 1860. Indian troops served as part of the British forces and thus objects taken from the Palace did subsequently circulate in South Asia.\r\n\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["900-1874","900LID-1874"],"accessionNumberNum":"900","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1874,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Incense burner","Lid"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-28","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-25","availableToBook":true}}