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Wishing House Shrine

Asian Art

MEDIUM Wood, polychrome
  • Place Made: Korea
  • DATES 17th century
    DYNASTY Joseon dynasty
    DIMENSIONS 44 7/8 × 13 × 12 in. (114 × 33 × 30.5 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 2021.17.5
    CREDIT LINE Gift of the Carroll Family Collection
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Vertical wood box with pierced, relief-carved panels on the front and sides, standing on a miniature railed platform with cornice and four removable phoenix-headed finials at the top. Front carved panel depicts peonies. Side panels consist of a column of chrysanthemums. Back panel is not carved but painted with peonies in a pattern that mimicks the front. The entire box is painted in bright colors with a fish-scale motif (perhaps depicting roof tiles?) on the cornice. Object is a Wishing House Shrine (Soh Wan Ham). It is used to deposit written offerings or prayers in a Buddhist temple.The prayers were presumably dropped through an opening in the top, but the strips of paper would have been visible through the openings in the carved front and side panels.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Wishing House Shrine, 17th century. Wood, polychrome, 44 7/8 × 13 × 12 in. (114 × 33 × 30.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Carroll Family Collection, 2021.17.5 (Photo: Image courtesy of The Honorable Joseph P. Carroll and Professor Roberta L. Carroll, M.D., CUR.TL2020.25.8.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.TL2020.25.8.jpg. Image courtesy of The Honorable Joseph P. Carroll and Professor Roberta L. Carroll, M.D., 2020
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     <em>Wishing House Shrine</em>, 17th century. Wood, polychrome, 44 7/8 × 13 × 12 in. (114 × 33 × 30.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Carroll Family Collection, 2021.17.5 (Photo: Image courtesy of The Honorable Joseph P. Carroll and Professor Roberta L. Carroll, M.D., CUR.TL2020.25.8.jpg)