Chinese Large Personal Incense Tool Kit

Nine pieces, a velvet tray and a ritual of calm.

This large personal incense tool kit is silver, from China. Incense tools are commonly part of scholarly and household practice, used to arrange ash and place incense. The black fitted case holds a small round burner, a domed lid, a pierced round plate with a decorative pattern, a waisted holder and a row of slender implements laid in parallel, including a pointed pick and small scoops. The silver has gone a warm, darkened gray in the shadowed areas.

Everything is in its place. Open it on a desk and the afternoon slows down.