Antique Asian incense burner

Hi all,

I have this antique Asian incense burner, i can't seem to figure out which country and period it might belong to. It has no marks. Does anyone have a clue?

Height: 10.5 cm
Width: 8.5 cm

 

Hi,
Just a hint take a toothbrush and hot water and liquid soap and get all of the white stuff off the piece. Someone tried to polish the piece and left all of the cleaner in the crevesses. Looks very much like it came from India.
greg

 

Agree, late 20th C., imported, low quality, value $5-$10, disregard Eboo listings with higher starting prices.

 

Yup that someone was me , Thanks greg.. Yes this could be from India.

 

Can't be late 20th Century because this was from my grandfather's collection. So i can confirm this is at least 60 years or older. I was thinking early 20th C.

 

Indian censers usually aren't tripods. I'd say China. There seems to be natural wear on the squirrel and rim, so it could be older.
Kavinda, could you post a photo of the censer after you've removed the residue?

 

@Any Jewelry It didn't occur to me the animal figure was of a squirrel till you mentioned it, the squirrel is holding a snake from its hands it seems.
So i did a quick search and found this:
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/10-Marked-O...785223?hash=item3f8d03f047:g:DjYAAOSwOzxZuyL0
I believe mine could be from China too as you mentioned.
Here are the photos after cleaning with hot water and liquid soap.

 

That came out nicely, looks much better now.
Yes, it is a squirrel, with a thin rat's tail. In Chinese culture a squirrel is perceived as a type of rat. He seems to be holding the end of his tail in his mouth, while carrying provisions in his front paws. The squirrel stands for providing for the future and reward after hard work, the rat stands for vitality.
I think 60 years old, possibly a bit older, would be right. So not antique, but some age.

 

Hi Kavinda,
Looks much better and now that I had my coffee looks more Chinese than Indian.
greg

 

Thanks again Any Jewelry and greg, much appreciated. Yes that makes more sense. Why i listed this as an antique is because my grandfather was an antique collector and these were collected back in the 50's, so he wouldn't have purchased this if this wasn't an antique already.

 

Maybe he bought it to use it? Or was given it?

 

No, we do not use these sort of censers here in Sri Lanka. He used to purchase antiques from auctions. Anyway thank you @Any Jewelry for the help as always There are a couple more items that I'd like your opinion on and i shall post them in due course.

 

Pleasure, of course, I'm looking forward to more 'goodies'. I think it's very nice that you take such an interest in your grandfather's collection.

 

Yes i'm interested in learning more about the few items that are left with me. Sadly, the most valuable ones were said to be sold back in the 80's.

 

Amazing thread, I learn something all the time on this forum. I would have guessed India as well because of the squirrel. What's funny is I thought I knew a lot about Chinese and I was thinking it would have to have a foo dog on the top. Luckily, we're not gambling here.