Buddhist Sutra Container (1100s–1200s): Art, History and Details

Buddhist Sutra Container (1100s–1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This container was designed to hold sutras, or Buddhist sacred texts. The Four Heavenly Kings, one for each of the cardinal directions, are incised on the exterior of the container. Images of the Four Heavenly Kings can often be found on Korean containers for sacred relics and sutras, and are symbolic of the wish to preserve the Buddha’s teachings.

Object facts

• Title: Buddhist Sutra Container
• Date: 1100s–1200s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: gilt silver with incised Buddhist designs
• Dimensions: Overall: 9.5 x 6 x 2.3 cm (3 3/4 x 2 3/8 x 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1998.122

A detail from the museum

This container was designed to hold a portable Buddhist sacred text.

Collection credit

Gift of Mitsuru Tajima

Further reading listed by the museum

• Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003.
• Goryeo: The Glory of Korea [대고려, 그 찬란한 도전]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2018.
• 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.