Incense Burner

This censer (object of worship used to burn incense and myrrh) was made of gilded silver, stamped and decorated with vegetal motifs, in a Wallachian workshop. It has the shape of a hemisphere, divided into seven lobes that frame helianthus flowers (a decorative and stylised sunflower), by peony or tulip blossoms; its base is surrounded by a row of fleurons (a carved ornament, shaped as a stylised flower or leaf). The hemispherical cover, crowned by a six-sided tower, is made of hemstitched openwork and decorated with the same floral motifs just as the bottom area is. The three legs (made of hemstitched floral openwork, having lion- and bird-shaped carving at the ends of the volutes) are mounted on a dish whose brim is decorated with vegetal motifs and a peony flower in the centre. A Romanian-language inscription written in Cyrillic reads "This censer belongs to the Hurezi monastery, which was gifted with it by its founders, in the year of our Lord 7200". TREASURY item.