Spoon with Fish-Tail Design (1200s): Art, History and Details

Spoon with Fish-Tail Design (1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Many of Goryeo period spoons like this one feature a curved handle that splits into a jagged fishtail design. This fishtail design is not unique to Korea; it was also widely used in the area under the rule of two non-Han Chinese states: Liao (907–1125) and Jin (1115–1234). These seemingly ordinary objects testify to exciting material interactions between the Goryeo dynasty and non-Han Chinese northern states, which were often omitted from the official records.

Object facts

• Title: Spoon with Fish-Tail Design
• Date: 1200s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 26.5 cm (10 7/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1921.666

A detail from the museum

Bronze spoons are the most common burial item. 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

Gift of John L. Severance

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.