Casket with Four Guardian Animals on the inner walls, accompanied by an epitaph tablet dated 1197
date: label: Date
content: 1197
label: Period
content: Goryeo period
name: label: Inscription
content: Choe Hyo-jeo 崔孝著 (12th century)
notes: label: Description
content: Burial chest, formed of six slabs of stone mortised and grooved; a separate slab bears an epitaph.
label: Description
content: Stone. Brownish earth incrustation.
label: Description
content: Decoration: incised on the inner walls, animals of the four quarters.
label: Inscriptions
content: Inscription: "The inscription of the tomb of late Kui, member of Royal Academy."
label: Provenance
content: Late 19th century or early 20th century
label: Provenance
content: Reportedly unearthed on the western hill of Daedeok-san (大德山), Hwanghaebuk-do province (黃海北道), North Korea [1]
label: Provenance
content: ?-1909
label: Provenance
content: Yamanaka & Company, Osaka, Japan acquired from an unknown source [2]
label: Provenance
content: 1909-1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in Osaka, Japan [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] The epitaph, written by Choe Hyo-jeo (崔孝著), reports that the bereaved buried the deceased, Kim Gong-sik? (金公湜?, pen name Yongsik (龍軾), 1129-1197) on the western hill of Daeduk-san (大德山), three weeks after his death on September 22, 1197. The name of the deceased is not entirely clear, as the second character of his given name is partially chipped away. The remaining characters, however, indicate that the deceased's name was likely
label: Provenance
content: 'sik (湜).' For a transcription of the epitaph, full translation
label: Provenance
content: and an analysis of the casket, see
label: Provenance
content: Sukyung Choi, "A closer look at Freer Casket: The life and death of the elites in Goryeo period" Research in Progress Series, Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Museum July 15, 2020, Washington, D.C., copy in object file. For a Korean transcription of the epitaph, see Mingyeong Gang [Kang Min-kyeong], "Saeropge hwagin doen Goryeo myojimyeong: Gim Yongsik myojimyeong, Sangdanghyeongun Gwak-ssi myojimyeong, Minsu myojimyeong 새롭게 확인된 高麗 墓誌銘: 金龍軾 묘지명·上黨縣君 郭氏 묘지명·閔脩 묘지명 [The Newly Identified Goryeo Memorial Inscriptions]" in Misul jaryo, no.96 (2019): 224-238.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 164, Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 2.
label: Provenance
content: [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Rediscovering Korea’s Past (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Korea
topic: label: Topic
content: stone
label: Topic
content: dragon
label: Topic
content: phoenix
label: Topic
content: tiger
label: Topic
content: Goryeo period (918 - 1392)
label: Topic
content: tortoise
label: Topic
content: Korea
label: Topic
content: Korean Art
label: Topic
content: epitaph
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: On View
content: West Building (Freer Gallery of Art), Gallery 14: Rediscovering Korea's Past
label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1909.359a-g
objectType: label: Type
content: Container
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Slate
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 22.7 x 56.7 x 34.1 cm (8 15/16 x 22 5/16 x 13 7/16 in)