Christiane Meckseper will be giving a talk to the Haddenham Local History Group on Thursday 17th November at 7.30pm at the Arkenstall Centre in Haddenham, Cambridgeshire.
Read MoreBarking Abbey School recognised that due to the cost of living crisis, both parents and children were struggling to afford food and school uniform so they set up a school food and uniform bank. They had asked for donations from local businesses to support them in buying new stock.
Read MoreJoin CBA London in person or online for a hybrid meeting of the popular London Archaeological Forum!
Read MoreKatie and Eniko from the Durham Office will be taking part in the 2022 Autumn Roman Finds Group Conference New Research on Finds from the Eastern Region of Hadrian’s Wall. This will be held online via Zoom on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th October 2022. The conference is free to attend for all.
Read MoreAn article detailing the results of our excavations at Dorset Rise in the City of London, by Douglas Killock, has just been published online.
Read MoreOur 25th Monograph is now available to purchase on our publications page!
Read MoreWe have some very exciting news – PCA Durham excavations in the Ouseburn area of Newcastle have uncovered the remains of Turret 3a of Hadrian’s Wall!
Read MoreHardwick Park, in Sedgefield, County Durham, is a Grade II* Registered Historic Park and Garden, laid out from c. 1750.
Read MoreWe have a wonderful rare find from Bermondsey Square – a moulded Chinese stoneware lion sejant figurine from a late 18th century domestic context.
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This has been tentatively identified as an incense stick holder, 香插, xiang cha (‘incense device for insertion’) or possibly 香台 xiang tai (‘fragrance platform’). It’s 6cm tall and almost intact except for the missing lower jaw which may have once held a ball. It has applied spiral, snail shell-like objects on its head and along its back to represent the lion’s mane. A damaged small hollow cylinder, possibly an incense stick holder, was applied to the base at the back of the figurine between the fore and hind legs. In experiments carried out recently in the PCA London Offices, it was found that a joss stick can stand nicely in the presumed holder. There is also a rectangular space between the creature’s front legs and into its hollow body. If a joss stick, or possibly a small briquette of incense, is placed there, the smoke comes out of the creatures mouth, which was probably the intention.
Ceramic lion figurines have been made in China since the Tang Dynasty period (AD 618–907), although the Bermondsey find is more likely to date from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD) and was probably made in the Fujian or Guangdong provinces.
Incense stick holder figurines have been around for more than a thousand years and there are many examples: one from the Ming Dynasty (a dynasty earlier than this Qing Dynasty specimen) in the British Museum https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_PDF-713, and another featuring the “Lion-dog” also from the Ming period: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1905-0519-56.
Incense holders familiar to those of us lucky enough to have visited the Far East and seen them in use in temples are far larger, in order to accommodate multiple sticks, and are generally called ‘censers’ 香爐 xianglu…- there are very many specific terms for these important ritualistic items! The Bermondsey Square figurine is likely more secular, being a small table-top or travelling size incense holder to keep away insects such as flies and mosquitoes while at a desk writing or eating at a table.
The lion figurine, which has been erroneously called Fo-Dogs or “Dogs of Buddha” since C.A.S. Williams (1932) wrongly termed these items, may possibly also represent one of the many mythical creatures in Chinese iconography. In Chinese culture, the lion, not native to the region, symbolizes power, wisdom, and superiority.
Lion figurines could also take the form of water droppers (shuizhu or shuidi) used for adding water to ink stones for calligraphy as part of a stationery kit. These have a cavity in the body and a hole on the spine, whereas this example is hollow with openings at the mouth and between the front legs. Excavations at the Huai An ( 怀安 ) kiln in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province uncovered Tang Dynasty period lion figurines and water droppers as kiln wasters, while a couchant find from the Philippines was dated to the 14th century. Dating the Bermondsey lion figurine is somewhat problematical from published examples, although the item was found with pottery dated c. 1730–50 and indicates a mid-18th-century or earlier date.
How the item was utilized and viewed by its users in Bermondsey can only be guessed at and the find may have simply been an ornamental import from a fashionable source, reflecting the passion at the time for all things oriental!
A small kitchen extension in Winchester has revealed the inner edge of the Iron Age Oram’s Arbour enclosure ditch, confirming its alignment and proving the value of even a small watching brief!
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