Box and Cover (lid) (918–1392): Art, History and Details

Box and Cover (lid) (918–1392) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Celadons, spoons, seals, and bronze mirrors were the most common burial objects in tombs during the Goryeo period (918-1392). Once used to contain color powder, rouge and eyebrow gel for makeup, this small container was one of the standard goods that furnished elites' tombs. Goryeo-period women and men used the grain powder of rice or millet for whitening their skin, safflower extract for rouge, and plant ash or soot for eyebrow gel. Yet, natural-looking make-up seems to have been the most favorable one in Korea according to the travelogue by Xu Jing (1091-1153), the Chinese diplomat who visited Korea in 1123.

Object facts

• Title: Box and Cover (lid)
• Date: 918–1392
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: celadon
• Dimensions: Diameter of mouth: 7.4 cm (2 15/16 in.); Overall: 2.7 cm (1 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1918.423.b

A detail from the museum

This ceramic container was used to store incense or cosmetics.

Collection credit

Gift of John L. Severance

Further reading listed by the museum

• Ch'a, Mi-rae, Kwi-suk An, Cleveland Museum of Art, and 국외소재문화재재단. The Korean Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Edited by An Min-hŭi. First edition, English ed. Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Series, 16. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, 2021.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.