Gold Crown from Cheonmachong
Fifth to sixth century
A band of sheet gold circles the head, and from it rise three upright ornaments shaped like branching trees, each with three tiers of right-angled twigs, flanked by two more that curve like antlers. Every surface is hung with small gold discs that would have trembled with the slightest movement, and at intervals hang comma-shaped beads of pale green jade. Two long chains of gold droop from the band on either side of the face. It is one of six gold crowns known from Silla, and in candlelight, on a moving head, it must have looked like a tree of light.
The shapes are not decorative whims. The tree and antler uprights connect Silla to the shamanic cultures of the northern steppe, where trees stood for the link between earth and heaven and deer were guides to the spirit world. The jade pendants, called gogok, may represent claws, fruit or the moon; nobody is certain. Look at how thin the gold is, and how the tiny discs are attached with twisted wire. The crown was probably not worn in daily life but reserved for ceremony, and perhaps for burial, when it was placed on the face of the dead king with the pendants covering the eyes.
The crown was found in 1973 in a mound in the Daereungwon tomb park, one of the first royal tombs to be excavated scientifically by Korean archaeologists. Nobody knows who was buried there, so the tomb was named after the painting of a flying horse found inside it, Cheonmachong, the Heavenly Horse Tomb. The crown had been buried on the head of the occupant and had collapsed under the weight of the stones and earth above; what you see is the careful reassembly. It was designated a National Treasure the following year.
Did You Know? Cheonmachong was excavated as a practice run for the larger neighbouring tomb, and turned out to be the richest single burial ever found in Gyeongju.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.