Alice in Wonderland Caterpillar Clock Backflow Incense Burner — 9 Inch Mossy Tree Clock

Quick Specs

• Type: Backflow incense cone burner with a working clock
• Size: 9 inches
• Clock: Quartz movement, cream dial with Arabic numerals and a gold-tone rim
• Theme: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: the Caterpillar, a teacup, and the Mad Hatter’s hat
• Cone dish: Round gold-rimmed dish on a tree stump
• Includes: Starter backflow cones

A Blue Caterpillar Dozing Beside a Mossy Tree Clock

The scene is built around a tree trunk that doubles as a clock. A cream dial with black Arabic numerals, a red second hand, and a gold-tone rim sits in the moss-green bark, with the word Quartz printed above the six. Below the dial, a gold pendulum disc hangs in a hollow slot in the trunk. On top, a teacup tips over the edge of a small stone chimney, and a green top hat with a 10/6 card in its band leans beside it. A fat blue caterpillar rests against the trunk with his eyes closed and a contented smile, his arms folded over his belly. A brown and gold hookah stands in front of him, and purple mushrooms grow at his feet. Vines climb the trunk with pink blossoms and a pale blue flower, and the base is rocky ground with tufts of green grass. On the right side, a gold-rimmed round dish sits at the top of a stump, and a yellow cone stands in the dish. That dish is the burner. It takes a backflow cone, and the smoke moves down through the woods below.

The scene draws on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865. In the book, Alice peeps over the edge of a mushroom and meets a large blue caterpillar sitting on top with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah. Its first words to her are “Who are you?” This figure follows that description closely: blue, arms folded, a hookah beside him, mushrooms underneath. The mushrooms matter to the story, because the Caterpillar’s parting advice is that one side of the mushroom will make Alice grow taller and the other side shorter. John Tenniel, who illustrated the first edition, drew the Caterpillar with a hookah as well. The teacup and the top hat belong to a different chapter, the Mad Hatter’s tea party, where the Hatter tells Alice that since he quarreled with Time it has always been six o’clock. A clock set into the tree gives that joke somewhere to live. The pieces come from separate chapters, but they sit together comfortably here, because the book itself keeps jumping from one odd scene to the next.

Practical Ritual Applications

Put the burner on a desk, a shelf, a mantel, or a side table where a clock is useful and still air is easy to find. The clock keeps time whether or not a cone is burning, so the piece earns its spot every day, with or without incense. A backflow cone burns in the dish and sends its smoke downward, which makes the burner a good centerpiece for an evening reading corner, a tea table, or a shelf of Alice books. Backflow cones come in many scents, and my backflow cone collection has them. As a gift, it suits readers of Carroll, collectors of Wonderland pieces, and anyone who likes a clock with a story. Between cones it stands as a painted sculpture and a working clock, so it keeps its place on display.

How to Burn a Backflow Cone in Your Caterpillar Clock Burner

The Tarot Fellow Standard

I stock this burner because it takes its details straight from Carroll’s book. The Caterpillar, the hookah, the mushrooms, the teacup, and the hat are all there, and the clock works as a clock, so the piece earns its place on a shelf even when no cone is lit. Backflow smoke is a quiet bit of theater, and it asks for nothing more than a cone and a still room, so a first-time burner owner can use it as easily as a collector. If you are gathering burners, my backflow burner collection has more shapes to set beside it.

Frequently Asked Questions