Cleveland Museum of Art

Seal

Date

918–1392

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 bronze seal appears to have been used for stamping the sealed envelopes of letters. The lion-shaped ornament serves as the handle of the seal. While it is much corroded, the face and tail of the seated lion gazing upward are delicately expressed. Beneath the face of the lion is a hole through which a string can be threaded. 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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