Gold Necklace from Noseo-dong, Gyeongju

This gold necklace from Noseo-dong, Gyeongju is made by joining a number of small gold rings into hollow spherical beads, and linking 44 heart-shaped gold plate ornaments with gold chains, with a single jade comma-shaped bead attached at the end. The technique of the hollow spherical beads is also seen in the central ornaments of earrings of the same period, and attaching a comma-shaped bead at the end of a necklace was the typical style of the age. However, whereas most necklaces of this period link glass blue beads together with a comma-shaped bead at the end, this necklace uses no blue beads at all, and each individual bead displays such refined workmanship that it ranks as a supreme masterpiece. The clear colour of the jade comma-shaped bead at the end harmonises beautifully with the gold. This necklace was found in a tomb at 215 Noseo-dong, Gyeongju; together with a series of relics excavated from the same tomb, it was taken to Japan at an early date, and it is one of the pieces of cultural heritage returned in 1966 under the Korea–Japan Agreement concluded in 1965.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물