Incense burner with Eight Trigrams. Stoneware, moulded and with celadon glaze. Guan ware 官窯. Hangzhou, Zhejiang province 浙江省，杭州市. Yuan dynasty, about AD 1279–1368. PDF 200. Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art. PDF 15. British Museum © Trustees of the British Museum

Guan stoneware incense burner of archaic bronze gui form with flattened mouthrim, two round handles with masks and a flaring foot. The incense burner has greenish-grey glaze with regular, brown-stained crackle. There are raised bosses under the mouthrim and on the foot, and raised 'Eight Trigrams' band around the body. Height: 138 mm. Diameter: 276 mm. 

Guan (official) stonewares are characterised by a thin dark clay body and a thick, glassy, celadon glaze with tiny bubbles and a wide crackle that can appear reddish brown when the body shows through. This incense burner is modelled on an ancient bronze food vessel called a gui. On each side is one of the 八卦 (ba gua ‘Eight Trigrams’) in relief. These are arguably the most familiar symbols associated with Daoism. Trigrams which are made up of combinations of three broken and unbroken parallel lines, are the basis for the 64 hexagrams of the 已經 (Yi Jing ‘Book of Changes’). These hexagrams are in turn interpreted to make sense of the world, its history and its future.

Acquisition notes: R. L. Hobson, 1934 records: 'From the Imperial Collection, Peking.'

Bibliographic reference: Medley, Margaret, Volume 7: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 7 of 12, Tokyo, Kodansha ltd, 1975

Hobson, Robert L, A Catalogue of Chinese Pottery and Porcelain in the Collection of Sir Percival David Bt., F.S.A., London, The Stourton Press, 1934 

Pierson, Stacey, Illustrated catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1999 

Pierson, Stacey, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art: A Guide to the Collection, London, SOAS, Univeristy of London, 2002 

Yorke Hardy, Sheila, Tung, Ju, Kuan, Chun, Kuang-tung & Glazed I-hsing Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, University of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1953