Chinese Wood Incense Burner

Warmly, a knobbly stump in warm brown, with a rusty spike sticking up from its crown.

This root wood incense burner is from Jiangxi Province, China, and dates to the 20th century. Root wood is carved from the twisted base and roots of a tree, and Chinese craftsmen have long prized its irregular natural forms for furniture and decorative objects. Held in frame, a gnarled, knotted trunk-like form with rounded bulges and bumps over a narrow base. A thin rusty spike projects from the flat top. The surface is a mottled mid brown with a slightly lustrous finish. It is 3.5 inches wide, 3 deep and 7 high.

Lumpy, knotty and totally content to be a talking point.