Vessel with Knobbed Lid (676–935): Art, History and Details

Vessel with Knobbed Lid (676–935) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This storage vessel is distinguished by its robust, subtly proportioned form and its body color. The purplish-brown surface "skin" is enlivened by a series of smoky black swirling marks that occurred during the firing in the wood kiln. This shape began as a series of clay coils that were pinched and then paddled; however, it spent more time on a potter's wheel to thin and finish its outer surface. The lid received similar, understated attention to detailing and finish.

Object facts

• Title: Vessel with Knobbed Lid
• Date: 676–935
• Culture: Korea, Unified Silla period (676-935)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: stoneware
• Dimensions: Overall: 34.4 cm (13 9/16 in.); Outer diameter: 29.4 cm (11 9/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1997.187

A detail from the museum

This type of lidded vessel served to contain cremated remains, indicating the popularity of Buddhist mortuary practice in Korea during the Three Kingdoms period.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hanguk kgodae ui togi: heuk, yesul, samgwajugeum [한국고대의 토기: 흙・예술・삶과죽음]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 1997.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major European Porcelain Crucifix, Pre-Columbian Figure, and Other Works Added to CMA Collection,” December 3, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• Lee, So-young, and Denise Patry Leidy. Silla: Korea's Golden Kingdom. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013.

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.