Milk Sandalwood Fragrance from The Chinese Book of Incense

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I enjoy recreating historical fragrances. Even when modern materials are used, the combinations turn out to be so unusual and memorable that finding more sources for antique formulas becomes a quest. My incense journey began while I was conducting research for the ISIPCA course I’m teaching this fall, focusing on the cultural and historical significance of fragrance. As I delved into the subject, my interest in the ancient practices of China, particularly the art of incense, grew stronger. I was already familiar with Japanese incense from my university studies and travels and I knew that the tradition came to Japan from China during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) and evolved into its own form. Learning about the original incense recipes and the scent philosophy in China thrilled me as it reminded me once again how deep and complex are the interactions between scent and culture, fragrance and art, perfume and society.

Incense was considered one of three “refined arts” in ancient China, along with tea ceremony and flower arrangement. Some of the earliest mentions of incense combinations date to the 3rd century BCE. As still remains the case, agarwood, the petrified wood of the aquilaria species, was the prized fragrance material, admired in its own right. Ancient texts mention frankincense and clove as ingredients to add facets to agarwood and lend it a different character, depending on the incense blender’s mood and artistic choices. Chinese women even mixed incense into makeup powders to paint their eyebrows black.

The first recorded book dedicated to the Chinese art of incense was written in 430 CE by a historian and politician Fan Ye in the Northern & Southern Dynasty. Blended Incense Recipes (和香方) was fascinating because it analyzed each perfume material in terms of its main characteristics, including strengths and weaknesses, and offered suggestions for combinations to highlight its unique features. While the book no longer exists in its full version, later sources use citations from it and its system of scent classification.

One such work that includes bits of earlier texts is Chen’s Book of Incense (陈氏香谱). The compilation was written during the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE), a period renowned for its cultural and intellectual advancements. The author was Chen Jing, but apart from the fact that he was originally from Henan, the writer remains a mystery. As I studied the manuscript, I discovered that it was filled with detailed descriptions of incense-making techniques, the spiritual significance of various scents, and the rituals associated with incense burning.

The book offers not only recipes for creating different types of incense but also insights into the meditative practices and ceremonial uses that were integral to the lives of people during that time. For instance, specific styles of incense were used as temple offerings, while socially, floral aromas suggested one’s good mood and disposition. Sandalwood incense was burned to indicate that the creator felt worried.

This book provides me with a tangible link to the rich history of fragrance in Chinese culture and offers my students a deeper understanding of how incense was intertwined with the spiritual and cultural fabric of a society and what continuities remain today.

To give you a glimpse into the fragrant pages of Chen’s Book of Incense, I will share his recipe for Milk Sandalwood Fragrance. During the Song Dynasty, 1 jin equaled 633g and 1 liang 37.30g, but in China today, they are 500g and 50g respectively. The agarwood mentioned in the formula is a prized version of oud, so-called yellow incense, which was rare and precious in Chen’s time. The majority of the formula is agarwood, pine and sweet grass. The latter is also called vanilla grass for its creamy sweet aroma of almonds and hay; it’s also used to flavor zubrowka and other liqueurs.

One curious addition is ling xiang cao (零陵香), a material once widely used in ancient Chinese incense formulas. The dried material looks like holy basil and smells like fenugreek, but it’s neither and instead is Lysimachia sikokiana, a plant in the primula family with a minty, bittersweet fragrance. The fascinating part is that while in China, this material is now mostly confined to herbal medicine, in Japan, it continues to be used as part of premium incense blends. In Japanese, it’s called reiryokoh. For instance, the old incense purveyor Kunmeido supplies their reiryokoh incense to the famous Zen temple Eiheiji. Another Japanese incense maker, Shoyeido, uses ling xiang cao/reiryokoh in their incense perfume Zu-koh.

Here is the full formula for Milk Sandalwood Fragrance from Chen’s Book of Incense.

6 jin of agarwood, 5 liang of cyperus rotundus, 5 liang of clove, 4 liang of patchouli, 4 liang of ling xiang cao, 4 liang of sandalwood, 4 liang of angelica, 0.5 jin of jujube, 2 jin of sweet grass, 2 liang of fennel, 0.5 jin of sweet pine, 1 liang of frankincense. Grind the above into fine powder and burn as usual.

If you decide to use this recipe as a blueprint for your own creation, skip ling xiang cao, unless you can find the exact herb from a Chinese pharmacy. Even though it smells like fenugreek, burned fenugreek seeds or leaves smell acrid and harsh.

You don’t need to grind the materials or bind them in any way. I learned during my incense studies in Japan to crush the fragrant ingredients coarsely and use the mix in an electric incense burner. Larger pieces release their scent more slowly, allowing you to add more of the aromatics over time and adjust the final formula.

Are you interested in perfume formulas or incense recipes? Would like you like to learn more about such practices in other countries?

Photography by Bois de Jasmin