The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 9, 2026

A pair of bronze chopsticks features two slender, tapering rods. Their upper lengths display decorative stacked horizontal rings and rounded segments. The rod on the left exhibits a mottled light-green patina, while the right rod is dark charcoal-brown. Below these textured bands, smooth shafts descend vertically to fine points, both showing distinct surface patterns from age and corrosion.

A Pair of Chopsticks

918–1392

Korea, Goryeo dynasty

(918–1392)
bronze
Overall: 26 cm (10 1/4 in.)
General Income Fund 1918.518
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

In contrast to the Chinese and Japanese, Koreans still prefer metal chopsticks (stainless steel and brass) to wooden ones.

Description

In Korea, chopsticks made of metal such as brass, silver, and gold were excavated from ancient tombs and ruins dated to the 6th century at the earliest. Burial goods often include utilitarian objects such as table wares and utensils because the dead were believed to need them in the afterlife.
  • ?–1918
    acquired by Langdon Warner [1881–1955] in Korea for the Worcester Warner Collection
    1918–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Horlyck, Charlotte. "The Eternal Link: Grave Goods of the Koryŏ Kingdom (918-1392 CE)." Ars Orientalis 44 (2014): 156-79. www.jstor.org
    Bronze in Life and Art [삶과 예술 속. 청동 靑銅 이야기] National Cheongju Museum (2016).
    Goryeo: The Glory of Korea [대고려, 그 찬란한 도전]. Seoul: National Museum of Korea, 2018.
    Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003.
    Ch'a, Mi-rae, Kwi-suk An, Cleveland Museum of Art, and 국외소재문화재재단. The Korean Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Edited by An Min-hŭi. First edition, English ed. Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Series, 16. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 104
    Ahn, Kuisook. "The Significance of the Bronze Spoons in the Cleveland Museum of Art." In The Korean Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Ch'a, Mi-rae, Kwi-suk An, Cleveland Museum of Art, 국외소재문화재재단, and An Min-hŭi, ed., 274-289. First edition, English ed. Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Series, 16. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 275, fig. 1
  • {{cite web|title=A Pair of Chopsticks|url=false|author=|year=918–1392|access-date=09 September 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1918.518