Chinese Carved Blackwood Incense Tube with Screw Top

A long slim cylinder wearing a dense jacket of tiny characters from end to end.

This carved blackwood incense tube with screw top is from China. Incense is burned in China in temples, homes and scholars' studios, and tubes are used to store sticks so that their fragrance is kept in. A tall, narrow tube with a smooth domed cap at the top, finished in deep brown. Rows of small incised characters wrap the whole shaft in tight bands. The surface carries a soft sheen from handling, with darker tone gathered in the recesses. It is 5 inches long and 0.7 in diameter.

Whoever cut all that lettering clearly never feared a long afternoon.