Su Shi’s connection to incense runs two ways. He lived in the Song dynasty, when burning incense at a writing desk was an ordinary part of a scholar’s day, and he once sent his younger brother, Su Zhe, a piece of agarwood carved like a small mountain as a birthday gift, with a poem to go with it. Our Brothers’ Study stick incense is a modern blend made in honor of the two brothers. It is not a reconstruction of anything they burned.
This piece explains who the brothers were, why incense belonged in a Song study, and how that story shaped a stick of incense you can light at your own desk today.
Who were Su Shi and Su Zhe?
Su Shi (1037–1101), often known by his literary name Dongpo, is one of the best-loved writers in Chinese history. He wrote poetry, prose and song lyrics, painted, and practiced calligraphy. His brother Su Zhe (1039–1112), whose courtesy name was Ziyou, was a respected essayist and statesman in his own right.
The two grew up together in Meishan, in what is now Sichuan, and passed the imperial examination in the same year, 1057. After that, their careers sent them in different directions. Officials of the time were posted from one prefecture to another, and both brothers were demoted and exiled more than once during the political fights of the late Northern Song. For long stretches of their adult lives, they lived hundreds of miles apart.
What kept them close was writing. They sent each other poems, letters and replies to each other’s poems for decades. Many of Su Shi’s most famous lines were written with his brother in mind.
The moon poem and the prison poem
On the Mid-Autumn Festival of 1076, Su Shi stayed up drinking and wrote a song lyric to the tune “Shui Diao Ge Tou.” His preface says he wrote it while thinking of Ziyou. It ends with a wish that, though they are far apart, they can at least share the same moon. People in China still quote that closing line at Mid-Autumn, often without remembering that it began as a note to a brother.
In 1079, Su Shi was arrested over poems that critics said mocked government policy, a case known as the Crow Terrace Poetry Case. Expecting he might be executed, he wrote two poems from prison for Su Zhe. In one, he asks that they be brothers in every life to come, so they could finish in the next life what was left unfinished in this one. He survived and was sent into exile instead, but the line stayed attached to the two of them.
Why incense belonged in a Song dynasty study
Incense culture in China reached a high point during the Song dynasty (960–1279). It was no longer only something for temples and palaces. Educated households burned it at home, and a censer sat on the desk next to the brush, ink, paper and inkstone.
A well-known Song saying grouped four pastimes together as the “four leisurely arts”: burning incense, whisking tea, hanging paintings and arranging flowers. None of them was meant to be grand. They were small, repeated acts that made a room feel lived in by someone who read and wrote there.
Scholars wrote about scent the way they wrote about tea or ink. Incense manuals were compiled during the Song, recording blends, materials and methods. Friends traded incense, mixed their own, and wrote poems about the smoke drifting over their books. Frankincense and other resins reached Song China through sea trade, alongside aromatic woods from the south.
A birthday gift of agarwood
Late in life, Su Shi was exiled to Hainan Island, at the southern edge of the empire. During those years he wrote a rhapsody on an “agarwood mountain,” a piece of agarwood shaped like a miniature peak, which he sent to Su Zhe for his birthday. In it he ranks agarwood above other fragrant materials and admires the wood’s mountain-like shape, and the whole piece reads as much like a letter to his brother as a description of an object.
The brothers had parted in 1097, when Su Shi crossed the strait to Hainan, and they did not see each other again. Su Shi died in 1101 on his way north after being pardoned. Su Zhe outlived him by more than ten years.
That gift sums up a lot about how incense worked in their world. It was something to look at and smell, something to send to someone you could not visit, and a reason to write.
What “Brothers’ Study” means
The Chinese name of our blend is 二苏旧局, which points back to “the two Sus.” Its URL on our site even carries the brothers’ name: two-sus-study. We chose the English name Brothers’ Study because the story lives in two places at once: the bond between the brothers, and the desks where each of them read and wrote, far from the other.
We want to be clear about what the incense is and is not. It is a later blend made in their honor. We do not claim it follows a recipe the Su brothers used, and we do not publish our proportions. What we can tell you is exactly what goes into it.
The ingredients and how they read
According to the Brothers’ Study Stick Incense product page, the blend is made from agarwood, sandalwood, frankincense, amber, honey and jasmine flowers. The agarwood we use is cultivated agarwood, and nothing outside that ingredient list is added. There is no added fragrance.
The page describes the scent in three stages:
- Opening: light jasmine with a green freshness, then the bright, citrus and pine-like notes of frankincense.
- Heart: honeyed agarwood and creamy sandalwood, softened by amber and a little sweetness from honey.
- Finish: the floral notes fade into lingering woods and gently sweet resin.
The intent was a scent that sits in the background of a room with books in it. It smells warm and a little old, the way a wooden desk smells after an afternoon in the sun, rather than sharp or perfumed.
Lighting it at your own desk
A stick burns for about 50 minutes, depending on airflow. That is roughly the length of a long chapter or one focused session of writing, which suits the way Song scholars treated incense: as a marker of time spent at the desk rather than the main event.
A few practical points:
- Use a holder that catches ash. Our Willow Leaf Stick Incense Holder is made for stick incense.
- Place it a little away from your papers and books, and out of a direct draft, which makes the stick burn faster and unevenly.
- Never leave burning incense unattended, and keep it away from children, pets and anything flammable.
- Store the box somewhere dry. Kept away from moisture, the incense does not expire.
If you read with incense often, we have a separate guide on how to use incense while reading without letting it take over. You can also see Brothers’ Study alongside our other incense and vessels on the Aromatic Treasures page.
A story worth keeping on the desk
Su Shi and Su Zhe spent much of their lives apart, and still managed to stay in each other’s daily thoughts through poems, letters and the occasional gift. The things on a scholar’s desk were part of that. A piece of agarwood went to a brother’s birthday. A moon poem went to a brother in another city.
Lighting a stick of incense will not recreate any of that. It can be a small reminder of it, though, and a reason to write to someone you do not see often enough.
Short FAQ
Did Su Shi actually use incense?
Yes. Incense was a normal part of a Song scholar’s study, and Su Shi wrote about agarwood and incense more than once, including the rhapsody on the agarwood mountain he sent to Su Zhe for his birthday.
Is Brothers’ Study a historical recipe?
No. It is a modern blend made in honor of the Su brothers. We do not claim it reproduces anything they burned.
What is in Brothers’ Study incense?
Agarwood, sandalwood, frankincense, amber, honey and jasmine flowers, with no added fragrance. Each box has a net weight of 30 g.
How quickly does it ship?
The incense is made in small batches. It usually ships within 1–2 business days, or within 3 business days if it has sold out.