Wanli-mark cloisonne luduan incense burner

A luduan is a beast that does not exist, a horned, maned creature said to walk a thousand miles a day and know the speech of every nation. The Wanli court cast it in cloisonne and made it an incense burner, so that fragrant smoke rose from a myth.

The form is sculptural where most cloisonne is vessel shaped. Legs, horns and open mouth are all wired and enamelled, the petals and scrolls flowing over a three dimensional body that a flat plaque could never show.

Luduan burners stood in imperial rooms as emblems of just rule, beasts that, legend held, appeared only to virtuous emperors. The Wanli reign was long and extravagant, and its workshops loved an object that was both opulent and morally loaded.

Smoke from a creature like this was never just scent. It was a small, daily claim about who was ruling, and why.

Image © The Palace Museum. View the original in the Palace Museum collection.