Martin Burgoyne, Soradaki chest (BOWLS, BOXES 2022)

Photos:

Martin Burgoyne

A Japanese Incense chest. Incense is burnt as part of many Japanese religious ceremonies and to ‘purify’ shrines and temples, but many Japanese people use incense in their homes, where different incense fragrances are used at different times of the day to relax mind and body. This chest holds all the specialist equipment used for different ways of burning incense for pleasure - Soradaki. It is a compact 270mm cube with a lift off lid, tied with a traditional Japanese obijimi sash. Made from veneered marine ply with book matched red maple burls on the outside, and cherry on the inside. The expanse of maple on the outside is broken by black stringing and edging. Its small plinth is fiddle-back jarrah. Inside are two trays made of banksia, edged with jarrah. The top full-size divided tray holds charcoal tablets, the stencils and other specialist equipment used for producing incense trails and the burning of incense in a traditional Koro - incense burner. The smaller lower tray holds a set of ceramic lidded jars containing the incense - sandalwood, agarwood, aloeswood, salwood, different frankincense’s, and josh powder etc. In the bottom of the chest are various jars, containers, and koros, each in their own velvet bag. All the contents are shown laid out to the side of the chest. The chest was an interesting design problem to ensure all the equipment fitted.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.