The Aquarium will be closed all day on Wednesday 27 April, and reopen from Thursday 28 April.
A brass tamper plate for a powdered incense clock, shaped in the form of a ruyi-sceptre topped with two strap handles on both ends. It is used to tamp the incense powder by placing it over the incense seal to produce a continuous trail of powdered incense. Observing the progress of the burning incense helps tell the time.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
