This U-shaped stove would have been part of a group of ‘mingqi’ or burial wares. The piece is covered in a green-lead glaze with three cooking pots set onto the top. A cylindrical chimney at one end suggests this was a wood burning stove.The practice of using lead-glazed burial wares had already started during the Han dynasty and it continued into the Ming period. The custom of burying objects with the deceased stems from the belief in life after death. Burying the stove ensured the deceased could continue ‘life’ in the underworld and served as a proof of his or her identity to underworld officials.
