A rare Korean funerary statue that has resided for nearly 45 years outside of Payne Hall has been relocated to the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery in Cohen Memorial Hall, where it is receiving restorative care.
The Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation has confirmed the statue is an attendant figure from the 17th century, which typically would have been placed in front of a Korean royal tomb. In the mid to late ’50s, the Korean government gifted the statue to Peabody professor and administrator Willard E. Goslin, who traveled to South Korea to help rebuild its educational system after the Korean War. After Goslin’s death in 1969, his wife, Marion, donated the statue to Peabody.
If you knew Goslin or were part of the Korea Multi-Year Project and have memories to share, email peabodymagazine@vanderbilt.edu.