Ornament with Heron and Turtle Design (1100s): Art, History and Details

Ornament with Heron and Turtle Design (1100s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Metalworking techniques advanced remarkably during the Goryeo period (918–1392). Sophisticated metal objects with intricate designs were used not only as daily accessories, but also as burial goods for commemorating the dead. Traces of fibers found on the backs of these metal ornaments suggest that they were once used as brooches to hold garments together.

Object facts

• Title: Ornament with Heron and Turtle Design
• Date: 1100s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 3.4 x 2.5 cm (1 5/16 x 1 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1917.1044.1

A detail from the museum

This metal ornament is part of a decorative brooch once used to hold clothes together.

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.
• Kim, Moon-ja. "A Study on the Ornaments in Goryeo Dynasty [고려 시대 장신구에 대한 연구]." Journal of Korean Traditional Costume 15, vol. 3 (December 2012): 5-21.
• Sin, Myŏng-hŭi, and Kwang-sŏp Kim. Bronze in Life and Art [삶과 예술 속. 청동 靑銅 이야기]. Ch'ungch'ŏng-bukto Ch'ŏngju-si: Kungnip Ch'ŏngju Pangmulgwan [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.