Incense Burner

Incense Burner  in the shape of a Bugaku Dance headgear with overglaze enamel decoration Edo period, Japan.

This is a Kokiyomizu ware incense burner, which is a type of Kyoto ware.  After Nonomura Ninsei perfected the beautifully elegant Japanese style enameled pottery during the Kanbunera (1661-1673), Ninsei-style pottery emerged at Kiyomizu in Kyoto.  Later, when Okuda Eisen (?? – 1811) introduced Chinese-style porcelain, Kiyomizu ware made a drastic change.  The term Kokiyomizu (old Kiyomizu) is applied to the Kiyomizu ware before Eisen.

This incense burner is an example of Kokiyomizu ware ascribed to the seventeenth or eighteenth centure.  Shaped like a  torikabuto, a headgear worn during a bugaku dance, its shape and coloring show sophisticated elegance.