Cabinet for Storing Incense Wood

Since at least the 10th century, incense has perfumed the robes of Japanese aristocrats, and before that it was used to create an otherworldly atmosphere in Buddhist temples. Expertise concerning tiny pieces of exotic aromatic woods led in the 15th and 16th centuries to the creation of various games or contests-some depending on the memorization of scents, some involving sequences that held clues to classic poems, some merely a matter of identifying matching aromas. Incense games became a "way," an avocation. The way of incense eventually spread from elite circles to townsmen, as did the tea ceremony.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Minoda Chojiro, Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, 1876; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1876, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.