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

Spoon (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). 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 hastily excavated the tombs located in Kaeseong, the former capital of the Goryeo period. Scholars recently have proposed that toward the end of the 14th century, Koreans enjoyed meat-based soups more than any other dishes, explaining why many more spoons than chopsticks were buried in tombs.

Object facts

• Title: Spoon
• Date: 918–1392
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: silver bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 25.6 cm (10 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1917.343

A detail from the museum

Bronze spoons are the most common burial item. Scholars have proposed that toward the end of the 14th century, Koreans enjoyed meat-based soups more than any other dishes, explaining why spoons became common household items as well as burial goods.

Collection credit

General Income Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• L. W. "Korean Bronze Spoons of the Korai Dynasty." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 6 (1917): 99-101.
• 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, no. 44 (2014): 156-79.

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.