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doctrine for the most speedy attainment of enlightenment;
it was safely tucked away out of sight,
doubtless in a secret ceremony, before the main
ceremony began. During the persecutions of 842-
845, the Chongzhen (Famen) Monastery, as the
monastery outside the capital most closely associated
with the court, was allowed to survive unscathed;
the fact that the four fingerbone relics
are almost identical in shape and size (varying
between 37 and 41 millimeters) makes it tempting to
suppose that some of them had originally been
enshrined elsewhere and brought to the imperial
monastery for safekeeping. In 603, under the Sui
dynasty, relics were sent from the capital to be
enshrined in pagodas throughout the empire. Such
relics, like the images that were disseminated in the
same fashion by the Sui emperors, and that share a
common style, must have been made to a rigorous
common specification. RW
1 The seven objects form Kegazawa's Group A in his very
thorough analysis of the relic groupings (1996).
2 These identifications are made here for the first time.
Previous reports have identified the skirt with a much
larger fragment of embroidery, densely embroidered with
lotus flowers (Famensi 1994, 72). Wang Yarong (Wang 1988,
27) and Wang Xu (Wang and Hu 1998, 205) called the
jacket a banbi (half-sleeve), but this term is not found
anywhere in the inventory stela; the pi'ao of the inscription—
a lined jacket — corresponds exactly to the jacket
recovered from the crypt.
3 Excavated in 1987 (FD 5:044-7); reported: Shaanxi 19883, 7.
4 There are different opinions regarding which was the
principal relic: The yellow bone relic in its jade coffin and
crystal sarcophagus; or the white jade relic, with the seven
stars of the Great Bear carved inside, enshrined in the
eightfold set of caskets. I-mann Lai, personal communication.
5 For a discussion of the iconography, see Han 1998.
A further detailed analysis of the iconography is in preparation
by 1-mann Lai, doctoral candidate at the School
of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Parcel-gilt silver sandalwood incense burner
and stand
Censer: height 29.5 (nYs), diam. 24.8 (9 3 A),
weight 6.4 (14 Vs)
Stand: height 21 (S 1 /*), diam. 43.5 (17 Vs),
weight 8.9 (19 3 A)
Tang Dynasty, dated by inscription to 869 CE
From the pagoda of the Famen Monastery at Fufeng,
Shaanxi Province
Famensi Museum, Fufeng, Shaanxi Province
Houston and San Francisco only
This impressive censer and its stand 1 were found in
the center of the inner chamber. Both are described
on the inventory stele among the very first of the
122 objects dedicated by Emperor Yizong in 873 CE:
"an incense burner and stand together weighing
380 Hang." An inscription incised on the underside
of the censer confirms the identification: "In the
tenth year of Xiantong [869 CE], the Wensiyuan
made an 8-cun (8-inch) silver gilt decorated incense
burner with stand and hanging rings, together
weighing 380 Hang. Craftsman Chen Jingquan;
Administrative Assistant of High Rank Wu Hongque;
Commissioner Neng Shun." 2 The numerals i, 3,
and 4 are engraved on the lid, body, and stand,
respectively.
Incense and fragrances were common offerings
in Buddhist worship; the smoke from the burning
incense would waft through the air just as the
teachings of the Buddha spread through the world.
Incense burners were a common item as early as
the Han dynasty (206 BCE -220 CE). Long before
that, during the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1100 BCE),
burnt offerings were made to the ancestral spirits
and to Shangdi, the Supreme Ruler. At that time,
the vessel of the greatest importance for such offerings
was the ding, or tripod bowl. Ding vessels, in a
variety of materials, were to become the chief altarvessel
in Buddhist ceremonies as well. During the
Tang dynasty, however, a five-footed form of incense
burner seems to have been favored. On the evidence
of Buddhist silk paintings from Dunhuang,
the censer on the altar in front of the Buddha was
472 EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA