Pictured here is a Japanese bronze incense burner, fashioned in the form of a crane, and obtained by Charles Appleton Longfellow during his twenty-month stay in Japan from 1871-1873. Incense, often agarwood or sandalwood, was placed inside, in this case via a lid on the crane’s back patterned to look like feathers, and burned to perfume a room, infuse clothing with the scent, or to aid in meditation.
Charles A. Longfellow, elder son of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, lived an almost itinerant lifestyle, traveling constantly. In 1871 he arrived in Japan and fell in love with the country and its culture, going so far as to have a house built for himself in Yedo. He also acquired a great many objects with which to decorate his home, and to send home to the family in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Among them were many bronze pieces such as this incense burner. At one point he even remarked that he had amassed so many bronze cranes that he referred to them as a “flock”.
This is the last known piece known to exist of that group or “flock” of bronzes Charley acquired. Many were passed on to friends and other family members, including this one. A photograph of the interior of a relative’s home in Portland, Maine seems to show this exact object. Charley’s cousins Mary King Longfellow and Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow, Jr. both lived Portland, and were known to have received many pieces from Charley’s Japanese collection. It seems likely that one of them came into possession of this item and used it to decorate their Portland, Maine home, but how it returned to the Longfellow House is still an unknown story.
This incense burner is one of many Japanese items on display in the historic furnished rooms of the Longfellow House. An exciting temporary exhibition featuring many of the not-often displayed items from the site’s Japanese collections will run during the 2023 open season, offering the opportunity to view many of the beautiful items Charley Longfellow acquired during his time in Japan.