Walter Bosse Exotic Flower or Palm Incense Holder

An early and rare Walter Bosse incense holder in the form of an exotic flower or palm tree.

This squat design, that can accommodate 3 incense sticks at once, was made by Herta Baller in the late-1940s to early-1950s, Austria.

Like most of Bosse & Baller’s creations together, the object is an entirely handmade piece that has been well considered in both design and execution.

The form is a sand cast brass sculpture which has been hand ground, drilled, cut and polished before undergoing black patinating and more polishing.

The lines made to suggest the different parts of a plant or tree have been cut deeply, to allow an impactful contrast been the patinated and polished brass, yet the lines also retain a lightness of touch, perhaps owing to no leaf being the same.

It is the simplicity, restraint and enduring usefulness of designs like this Bosse & Baller creation that we most admire.