Goldwork refers to a general term for accessories made using high-level gold work technology. Unlike modern accessories that decorate the body, gold work in the Three Kingdoms period is regarded as an artifact that performed a social role and function...
Goldwork refers to a general term for accessories made using high-level gold work technology. Unlike modern accessories that decorate the body, gold work in the Three Kingdoms period is regarded as an artifact that performed a social role and function by indicating the identity of a specific political body or the status or status of a subject. Goldwork in the Three Kingdoms period makes it easy to think of Silla(新羅), the Kingdom of Gold, but Gaya(加耶), the Kingdom of Iron, also had a unique culture of gold work. In particular, it is known that gold work in Daegaya(大加耶) was widely distributed across the sea to the Japanese archipelago.
Goldwork excavated from Gaya's ancient tombs can be classified into gold crowns, earrings, decorative knives, belt decoration, arrow barrels, and bracelets depending on their functions and purpose. Some were produced by Gaya people, but others were imported from Baekje(百濟) and Silla neighboring countries, and the Chinese and Japanese archipelago in the distance. Daegaya is the most developed place for goldwork culture, and by the end of the 5th century, its own goldwork is distributed around Goryeong(高靈) and Hapcheon(陜川).
On the other hand, in the middle of the Gohun period, various cultures and cultures such as ceramics(製陶), forging(鍛冶), horse racing, and housing are imported from the Korean Peninsula. One of the representative cultures of the mid-Gohun period, called the ‘age of technological innovation’, is goldwork. Goldwork in Daegaya are identified throughout the Japanese archipelago in the middle of the Gohun period. Finished products are imported, and public figures with technology go to the Japanese archipelago to make goldwork there. It is estimated that there were various circumstances behind the development of goldwork in Daegaya in the late fifth century and soon spreading to the Japanese archipelago.