Chinese Lu or Incense Burner

Blue strokes rush down this round drum like rain on a window.

This porcelain lu or incense burner is from Hebei Province, China, and dates to the 19th century. The lu is the Chinese name for a censer, a vessel for burning incense that has long stood on household altars, in temples and in scholars' studios. Short, rounded cylinder in thick pale glaze with a ring of loose vertical blue strokes spreading from the shoulder downward. Two blue marks sit on the flat top around a small central hole. The glaze pools to a darker blue at the foot.

Casual brushwork that somehow knows exactly what it is doing.