Lotus Leaf Ceramic Incense Burner

A lotus leaf in dark stoneware, curled to hold the burn.

The lotus is the flower that grows clean out of mud, and in Buddhist and Chinese homes it stands for a mind kept clear of what it rises through. This burner takes the leaf rather than the flower: the veins are pressed into the clay, one edge lifts and folds over, and the seed pod at the centre is pierced so the smoke leaves through the holes in the leaf rather than in a single line. A small bird rests on the pod.

Kept out on a tea table for a slow afternoon, or on the windowsill of a reading corner.