Cleveland Museum of Art

Dog-shaped Paperweight

Date

676–935

Medium

gilt bronze

Culture

Korea, Unified Silla period (676-935)

Department

Korean Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This small object in the shape of a hybrid dog-lion is believed to have been used as a paperweight. Since the Three Kingdoms period (57 BC−668), mercury amalgam gilding had been widely employed to embellish metal objects as well as to make their surface resistant to acids. This technique involves mixing pure gold powder with liquid mercury to form a paste-like mixture. As heat is applied, the mercury evaporates, but an opaque layer of gold remains on the surface. This coating must be polished by first rubbing it with dried rice seedlings, then processing it in ash lye to eliminate impurities; next, the piece is washed and rinsed in a plum vinegar bath. This is a dog and lion hybrid.

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