Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "97685",
    "label": "Spoon with Fish-Tail Design",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}

{
    "id": "97685",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Spoon with Fish-Tail Design",
    "description": "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.",
    "date": "918–1392",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1917.329",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q79482302"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.329/1917.329_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.329/1917.329_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.329/1917.329_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 28.2 cm (11 1/8 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)"
    ],
    "accession": "1917.329"
}

{
    "tec": "bronze",
    "tombstone": "Spoon with Fish-Tail Design (연미형 청동 수저 [魚尾形靑銅匙]), 918–1392. Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392). Bronze; overall: 28.2 cm (11 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Director's Contingent Fund, 1917.329",
    "titleInOriginalLanguage": "연미형 청동 수저 [魚尾形靑銅匙]",
    "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": "<em>Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392</em>. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003."
        },
        {
            "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": "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"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1917.329",
    "creditline": "Director's Contingent Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 05:15:54.469000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.329/1917.329_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 97685,
    "dept": "Korean Art",
    "coll": "Korean Art",
    "med": "bronze",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.329/1917.329_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "80014c0e700c8fbc"
}