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 1800s. 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: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 26 cm (10 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1918.538

A detail from the museum

Bronze spoons are the most common burial items. Scholars have proposed that toward the end of the 1300s, 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

• 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): 156–179.
• Yun, Seong-jae. “The Special Meanings of Spoons and Chopsticks in the Goryeo Dynasty [고려시대 분묘출토 청동수저].” Yeoksa wa silhak (2015): 51–68.

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.