Fine Satsuma Earthenware Censer. Japan Circa 1900.

This amazing incense burner is shaped like a cottage. The roof is removable and the incense fumes escape through four chimneys made in the roof. The cottage is built with white Kyoto stoneware, the details are incised in hollow or modeled in slight relief and enameled in green, red and gold. It is a very rare form of incense burner, difficult to create, the firing cracks are there to testify to this. It is a fragile object that miraculously survived the 20th century without being broken. Three slight accidents are however to be noted, a small piece of a roof tile, the end of one of the green ropes and a small part of one of the 4 interior reinforcements. These accidents are insignificant, they do not harm the aesthetics of the cottage and are only visible after careful observation. They have been circled in red on the photos. Height 16cm. Japan late 19th century, Meiji period Satsuma style, probably made in Kyoto.