Enquiry about object: 10034
Spanish Colonial Silver Rooster Censor (Sahumador)
Lima, Peru 18th century
height: 17.1cm, width: 7.8cm, length: approximately 12.2cm, weight: 356g
Provenance
UK art market
This splendid 18th century silver incense burner or censor is in the form of a rooster. The rooster stands upright and has moveable wings (they are hinged), and an extravagant tail. The interior has been gilded.
The body is globular and chased and engraved with Baroque-style ribbon-like flourishes.
The head has a prominent comb and a pair of wattles hang beneath the beak.
The head pulls off to reveal a domed silver cover perforated to allow the incense smoke to escape. The cover is surmounted by a pull shaped as a miniature rooster.
Similar rooster-shaped vessels attributed to Lima, Peru, are illustrated in de Lavalle & Lang (1974, p. 103, and the cover).
Incense burners were used in wealthier colonial homes in Spanish colonial South America to sweeten the air and counteract odours coming from inadequate sewerage systems, but also as a way to discourage mosquitoes.
The example here is in very fine condition.
References
de Lavalle, J.A. & W. Lang, Arte y Tesoros del Peru: Plateria Virreynal, Banco de Credito del Peru en la Cultura, 1974.
