The Baekje Gilt-Bronze Incense Burner

Record summary

Discovered in 1993 at the Neungsan-ri temple site, this gilt-bronze incense burner depicts a mountain-shaped lid populated by animals, musicians, and fantastic beings. Its intricate imagery has encouraged broad claims about shamanism, Daoism, Buddhism, and imagined landscapes, but its exact ritual use and symbolic program remain interpretive questions. The object offers a focused comparison of iconographic analysis, conservation, and the relationship between court culture and religious practice in Baekje. It should be studied through museum and excavation documentation rather than speculative visual analogies. AI-recalled, not a citation.