The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 20, 2024
Folding Table (Che-Sang) for Memorial Service
1900s
(1392–1910)
Overall: 97.5 x 116 x 82.5 cm (38 3/8 x 45 11/16 x 32 1/2 in.)
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
The belief in two types of souls, the spiritual and the corporeal, embodied the core concept of ancestral worship in traditional China and Korea. While the corporeal soul is believed to reside in the tomb, the spiritual soul, in the spirit house, guards his or her decedents.Description
Many homes in premodern Korean society had a memorial shrine for preparing and holding ancestral rites. Placed on the top of a tall chair, this miniature edifice (called the spirit house) served as a temporary residence for visiting ancestral spirits. On the table, a variety of delicacies such as fruits, rice, meat, and wine would be placed to treat those spiritual guests.- Deuchler, Martina. “Mourning and Funerary Rites.” In The Confucian Transformation of Korea (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press), 1992.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: p. 234, no. 129
- {{cite web|title=Folding Table (Che-Sang) for Memorial Service|url=false|author=|year=1900s|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1999.120.2