Incense Burner - Church - Bulgaria - Gallery

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Incense Burner - Church - Bulgaria

Posted by Peter Hoesli on February 10, 2015 at 2:11pm

This incense burner was manufactured in Chiprovtsi-Bulgaria. In the old days, Chiprovtsi was a very important silver smith town. Chiprovtsi was exempted from paying taxes in return, they produced pretty much all silver works for the court of Bulgaria. Needless to say that Chiprovtsi, which was also well known for their mines and carpet industry, had some of the country's and region's best silver smiths. This is an absolute rare beauty, which I have purchased quite some time ago.

Comments

Toya February 10, 2015 at 5:05pm

This piece has such exquisite beauty! It is functional and sculptural at the same time. Great find!
ingrid Langerak February 10, 2015 at 5:37pm

Peter, very imposant. A real thoughtful decorated burner. for the use of the church. It must have been wealthy churches. Ethiopia has also many incence burners but more bells which rattle when the priests and his helpers makes the crosses on the spot, fours times in four places (churches are round. But I have only seen very crude ones, made of brass or iron.

Maybe in the cathedral were the pope of Ethiopia houses, there may be some in silver. Has it been used before you got it? and had it charcoal remains in it? Must have been a job to clean it. Gr. Ingrid,
Peter Hoesli February 10, 2015 at 6:04pm

Dear Ingrid. Many thanks for your message. Yes, it has been used. However, I got it well cleaned from a collector in Bulgaria. As mentioned, the items of Chiprovtsi are very sought after and it is very difficult to obtain such pieces. Also, since this town has manufactured silver artifacts and jewelry for the imperial court, the quality of the same is extremely good. By the way, I have visited the Boyana church near Sofia. The interior of this very old church reminded me a lot of the churches in Ethiopia - they looked gorgeous and the paintings featured very vivid colors. Hence, there are definitely similarities between the countries, which is due to the religion. The churches in the cities, such as Sofia are however, different, more looking like the ones in Russia, of course very beautiful and very impressive. With kind regards. Peter
Betty February 10, 2015 at 8:51pm

A most wonderful piece and great information! Thanks a lot. Ingrid's comment also brought back memories of Ethiopian churches (and coffee ceremonies!!!). I really love the smell of incense...