id: 153635 accession number: 1987.160 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1987.160 updated: 2023-02-08 18:13:20.168000 Dog-shaped Paperweight, 676–935. Korea, Unified Silla period (676-935). Gilt bronze; overall: 5 x 2.7 cm (1 15/16 x 1 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Robert H. Ellsworth in honor of Sherman E. Lee 1987.160 title: Dog-shaped Paperweight title in original language: 개모양 금동 문진 (犬形金銅文鎭) series: series in original language: creation date: 676–935 creation date earliest: 676 creation date latest: 935 current location: 236 Korean creditline: Gift of Robert H. Ellsworth in honor of Sherman E. Lee copyright: --- culture: Korea, Unified Silla period (676-935) technique: gilt bronze department: Korean Art collection: Korean Art type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 5 x 2.7 cm (1 15/16 x 1 1/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Year in Review for 1987 opening date: 1988-02-24T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988). title: Scholar's Studio opening date: 1989-09-19T04:00:00 Scholar's Studio. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19-December 17, 1989). title: Interpretation of Materiality: Gold (Korean art rotation) opening date: 2021-04-29T04:00:00 Interpretation of Materiality: Gold (Korean art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 29-October 24, 2021). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Robert H. Ellsworth [1929–2014], New York, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?–1987 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: December 16, 1987– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: This is a dog and lion hybrid. digital description: wall description: This small object in the shape of a hybrid dog-lion is believed to have been used as a paperweight. Since the Three Kingdoms period (57 BC−668), mercury amalgam gilding had been widely employed to embellish metal objects as well as to make their surface resistant to acids. This technique involves mixing pure gold powder with liquid mercury to form a paste-like mixture. As heat is applied, the mercury evaporates, but an opaque layer of gold remains on the surface. This coating must be polished by first rubbing it with dried rice seedlings, then processing it in ash lye to eliminate impurities; next, the piece is washed and rinsed in a plum vinegar bath. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1987.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 75, no. 2, 1988, pp. 30–71. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 212, p. 71; Reproduced: p. 65 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25160017 Lee, Soyoung, and Denise Patry Leidy. Silla: Korea's Golden Kingdom. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013. page number: url: Nelson, Sarah. Gyeongju: The Capital of Golden Silla. Routledge, 2019. page number: url: “Exhibitions through November 2022.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 59, vol. 62 no. 3 (September, 2022): 13. page number: Reproduced: P. 13. url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1987.160/1987.160_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1987.160/1987.160_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1987.160/1987.160_full.tif