Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "97705",
    "label": "Spoon",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}

{
    "id": "97705",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Spoon",
    "description": "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.",
    "date": "918–1392",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1917.347",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q79482368"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.347/1917.347_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.347/1917.347_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.347/1917.347_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 25.8 cm (10 3/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)"
    ],
    "accession": "1917.347"
}

{
    "tec": "silver bronze",
    "tombstone": "Spoon (은동 수저 [銀銅匙]), 918–1392. Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392). Silver bronze; overall: 25.8 cm (10 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, General Income Fund, 1917.347",
    "titleInOriginalLanguage": "은동 수저 [銀銅匙]",
    "collection": "Korean Art",
    "didYouKnow": "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.",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "L. W. \"Korean Bronze Spoons of the Korai Dynasty.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 4, no. 6 (1917): 99-101.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: Front Matter; Mentioned: pp. 99-101",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25136106"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392</em>. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Horlyck, Charlotte. \"The Eternal Link: Grave Goods of the Koryŏ Kingdom (918-1392 CE).\" <em>Ars Orientalis</em>, no. 44 (2014): 156-79.",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/43489802"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Yun, Seong-jae. “The Special Meanings of Spoons and Chopsticks in the Goryeo Dynasty [고려시대 분묘출토 청동수저].” <em>Yeoksa wa silhak</em> (2015): 51-68.",
            "url": "https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE06339542"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>Bronze in Life and Art</em> [삶과 예술 속. 청동 靑銅 이야기] National Cheongju Museum (2016)."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Jeong, Eui-do. Changes of Spoons during the Late Goryeo Period [고려후기 숟가락의 변화].” <em>Hanguk jungse gogohak</em> (2017): 139-157.",
            "url": "https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE07262104"
        },
        {
            "citation": "<em>Goryeo: The Glory of Korea </em>[대고려, 그 찬란한 도전]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2018."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Ch'a, Mi-rae, Kwi-suk An, Cleveland Museum of Art, and 국외소재문화재재단. <em>The Korean Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Edited by An Min-hŭi. First edition, English ed. Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Series, 16. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, 2021.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 103"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1917.347",
    "creditline": "General Income Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 05:15:58.998000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.347/1917.347_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 97705,
    "dept": "Korean Art",
    "coll": "Korean Art",
    "med": "silver bronze",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.347/1917.347_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "4c0b44491412c66a"
}