Earthenware Boat-shaped Funerary Object

This earthenware funerary object is a myeonggi, a vessel made specifically to be buried with the dead, modelled in the shape of a boat. It measures 9.1 cm in height and 27.9 cm in length, longer than other examples excavated to date, with a correspondingly long, flat bottom, and its overall form is almost perfectly symmetrical left to right. Both ends of the hull extend outward and curve upward to form a semicircular shape, each pierced with two holes; although the tips of the hull are mostly broken off, several knobs for hanging oars remain. Inside the boat, seating spaces are provided on either side, divided by partitions at three points so that oarsmen could sit and row. Repeating zigzag dotted lines are incised over the entire outer surface on both sides of the hull, and a dark greenish-brown natural glaze partially covers both faces. This boat-shaped vessel expresses the belief that it carried the soul of the dead to the afterlife, and was one of the ritual vessels buried in a tomb. It is presumed to date from around the fifth to sixth century; its findspot is unknown, but it will provide important material for the study of ancient shipbuilding.

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Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물