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

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

The work and its context

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

Both everyday objects and ornaments such as this belt ornament were standard for Goryeo-period (918-1392) burial goods. Furnishing tombs with an elaborate assemblage of objects was believed to honor and comfort the newly dead. Generally, Goryeo tombs were left untouched until the late 19th century. During the colonial period (1910–45), however, Japanese archaeologists aggressively excavated the tombs located in Kaeseong, the former capital of the Goryeo period. Highly possibly came from one of those excavated tomb sites, this bronze ornament evokes a memory about the colonized Korea (1910-1945).

Object facts

• Title: Clasp
• Date: 918–1392
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze gilt
• Dimensions: Overall: 3.9 cm (1 9/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1917.1050

A detail from the museum

The Japanese antique dealer Yamanaka & Company, which opened its branches in New York (1895) and Boston (1899), sold small Korean archaeological materials such as this bronze ornament to American collectors in the early 20th century.

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Choi, Eung-chon. “Metal Arts in the Late Goryeo Period [고려후기의 금속공예].” Kangjwa misulsa (2004): 125-156.
• Choi, Eung-chon. “Craftsmen in Metal Arts in the Goryeo Dynasty [고려시대 金屬工藝의 匠人].” Misulsahak yeongu (2004): 171-192.
• Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003.

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.