Spoon with Fish-Tail Design (918–1392): Art, History and Details

Spoon with Fish-Tail Design (918–1392) 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: 918–1392
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: silver bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 28.4 cm (11 3/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1917.349

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): 156–179.

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.