Urn

In 528, Silla became the last of the three kingdoms to officially adopt Buddhism. With the spread of this religion, the funerary custom of the Silla people gradually changed from burial to cremation. By the time Silla unified the Korean peninsula in 668, the practice of cremation had become firmly established.

The urns made to contain ashes of Buddhist believers were usually put inside a stone container and could be deposited at a temple, inside a pagoda, or at a family burial site. These urns were often decorated with bands of incised lines, horizontal grooves, and twisted dangles, all of which had also been used to embellish Three Kingdoms stoneware. Although many urns were made without any decoration during the Unified Silla dynasty (668-935), most vessels of the time were covered with stamped or impressed designs of concentric circles, rosettes, and other floral patterns, perhaps symbolizing the Pure Land of the buddha Amitabha.