Cleveland Museum of Art

Seal

Date

1100s

Medium

bronze

Culture

Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)

Department

Korean Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

A large quantity of bronze seals were excavated from tombs of the Goryeo dynasty. This turtle-shaped seal bears two inscribed characters: 武貴, meaning "military highness." The red cinnabar paste is still visible, indicating it must have been used for signing various documents, while its owner was still alive. A large quantity of bronze seals excavated from tombs of the Goryeo dynasty is closely related to the development of metallurgy in 13th-century Korea that allowed the transition from wood type to movable metal type printing.

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