Cleveland Museum of Art

Comma-shaped Jade

Date

400s CE

Medium

jade

Culture

Korea, Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE–668 CE)

Department

Korean Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Jade is one of the hardest stones and requires an intensive, arduous process of abrasion—cutting, chiseling, grinding, and polishing—to achieve the desired shape. A grindstone and a slurry of grit and water shape the jade into the desired form, and then a cloth dampened and rubbed with finer grit may have been used to give the jade the smooth surface. For the Silla kingdom (57 BC–985), in particular, comma-shaped jades served as an essential item for the burials of the ruling class and were luxurious accessories to decorate golden crowns. Their comma shape is thought to represent embryonic forms, symbolizing life, particularly rebirth in the afterlife. This unique shaped jade was used as a pendant to decorate necklaces, eyerings, and crowns during the Three Kingdoms period.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.