An incense timekeeper (Koban Dokei), Japanese, 18th century

inscribed on the storage drawers Kangoro Isuka (a name) Kamincho Shinjuku (a district of Tokyo), the black lacquered wooden timekeeper comprising a square wooden base with a small square hole cut out to the center holding a column which carries the two stepped pyramids, the upper of which is inverted and supports the ash box, the ash box carries a lid with a squared grill for protection, the timepiece containing a four-pronged hand rake for ash probably replaced, a tamper and leveler and an incense template.

Collected in Japan in 1973
Time Museum Inventory No. 957

Turner, A.J. The Time Museum, Volume 1, Time Measuring Instruments; Part 3, Water-Clocks, Sand-Glasses, Fire-Clocks. Rockford, 1984, cat. no. 33, pp. 152-153