Altar High Chair (Kyo-Yi)

1800s

Altar High Chair (Kyo-Yi), 1800s. Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). Pine nut wood; overall: 128.4 x 52 cm (50 9/16 x 20 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Honorable Joseph P. Carroll and Roberta Carroll, M.D. in memory of Robert P. Bergman 1999.120.3 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. 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 descendants.