Chopstick (918–1392): Art, History and Details

Chopstick (918–1392) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

In Korea, chopsticks made of metal such as brass, silver, and gold were excavated from ancient tombs and ruins dated to the 6th century at the earliest. Burial goods often include utilitarian objects such as table wares and utensils because the dead were believed to need them in the afterlife.

Object facts

• Title: Chopstick
• Date: 918–1392
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 24.8 cm (9 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1917.1032.1

A detail from the museum

In contrast to the Chinese and Japanese, Koreans still prefer metal chopsticks (stainless steel and brass) to wooden ones.

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003.
• Horlyck, Charlotte. "The Eternal Link: Grave Goods of the Koryŏ Kingdom (918-1392 CE)." Ars Orientalis 44 (2014): 156-79.
• Bronze in Life and Art [삶과 예술 속. 청동 靑銅 이야기] National Cheongju Museum (2016).

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.