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Details / Information for Wine Cup

Wine Cup

유기잔 [鍮器盞]

1900s

North Korea, Yochon

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Medium
brass
Credit Line
Gift of Henry B. Andrews 2000.1001.2
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

This pair of bronze cups may have been used in family rituals such as ancestral worship ceremonies.

Description

In ancestor veneration rituals, deceased parents or ancestors are sanctified as spirits who are believed to oversee their descendants. Three times a year, once at the lunar new year, once at the person’s death date, and once at the time of the mid-autumn festival, food would be placed on the table for the ancestors, including fruits, rice, meat, and rice wine. During these ceremonies the worshipers’ attitude was as reverential toward the objects meant to embody the ancestors’ spirits as that toward a living parent. This pair of brass cups may have been used for ancestral rituals to contain rice wine.
A brass wine cup, shaped as a hemispherical bowl with a rounded base, features a muted golden surface and a matte finish. Dark brown oxidation spots and greenish patina scatter across the exterior, including a prominent blemish on the lower right. Fine scratches and small indentations texture the surface, suggesting long use. The smooth rim curves inward, leading into a plain interior that displays an aged metallic glow against a neutral gray backdrop.

Wine Cup

1900s

North Korea, Yochon

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