The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 9, 2026

An iron and silver metalwork sculpture features a miniature shrine elevated on a tall stand. The stand's thin legs are braced by horizontal bars beneath a scalloped apron. Above, the structure contains doors with diamond-shaped metalwork. From its roof, stylized bird finials and a fan-like crest extend upwards. Worn, dark surfaces are accented by delicate metallic inlays, highlighting an aged patina across the complex structural joints and decorative plates.

Spirit House

late 1800s

Korea, Joseon dynasty

(1392–1910)
iron inlaid with silver and copper decoration
Gift of The Honorable Joseph P. Carroll and Roberta Carroll, M.D. in memory of Robert P. Bergman 1999.120
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The belief in two types of souls, the spiritual and the corporeal, embodied the core concept of ancestor worship in traditional China and Korea. While the corporeal soul is believed to reside in the tomb, the spiritual soul, in the spirit house like this example, guards his or her decedents.

Description

This table, chair, and spirit house form a partial recreation of a memorial altar from the Joseon period. The spirit house and chair both include a number of auspicious symbols, including lotuses, conch shells, and chakra wheels. The spirit house would have been placed on the altar chair, and offerings would have been set out on the table for the memorial service. In ancestor veneration rituals, deceased parents or ancestors are sanctified as spirits who are believed to oversee their descendents. 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 worshippers’ attitude was as reverential toward the objects meant to embody the ancestors’ spirits as that toward a living parent.
  • ?–1999
    The Honorable Joseph P. Carroll and Roberta Carroll, M.D., New York, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1999–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Deuchler, Martina. “Mourning and Funerary Rites.” In The Confucian Transformation of Korea (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press), 1992.
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major Contemporary German Painting Acquired by CMA,” June 9, 1999, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Buswell, Robert E., ed. Religions of Korea in Practice. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007.
    Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392-1910. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2014.
    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: pp. 234–235, no. 129 & no. 130
  • {{cite web|title=Spirit House|url=false|author=|year=late 1800s|access-date=09 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1999.120