Wednesday, 19 December 2018

Incense wrappers (3)

Yet More Chinese Incense wrappers. These examples were collected around 2014. 
財神進寶香
"God-Of-Fortune enters [with] treasures  incense" 
A change from the Buddhist deities previously featured, this particular wrapper depicts the god of Fortune財神 . Symbols of wealth and Power float on clouds by the sides of the title. They are 

(Right hand row-- A Jue 爵 (Goblet with three legs), a pair of ingots (元寶Yuanbao), a Calabash, a Pair of coins, and a ruyi 如意 scepter. 
The left-hand row contains the same objects, but placed in a different order. 


金旺來
富貴旺來香 
Golden "Pineapple" 
Prosperity and fortune incense

The name of this incense wrapper is a pun-- The chinese for pineapple 黃梨(Huang Li) or 王梨 (Wang Li) is very similar to the phrase 旺來 Wang Lai-- "Prosperity comes". This similarity is even more stark in Hokkien.  So the brand Golden pineapple may be interpreted as " Golden prosperity comes"
In any case, the makers of the incense have taken this to heart-- The label's background is entirely comprised of gold foil, applied by hot stamping.Alas, this brilliant gilt does not show up well on the scan.