• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
• /
• v.61 no.10
• /
• pp.72-88
• /
• 2011

This study is about the costume relics that were excavated from M10 of the 6th site, M13 and M14 of the 8th site among all the Runghai(龍海) ancient tomb sites that were known as the royal family's tombs of Balhae, which were built from the late 8th century to the early 9th century. These costume relics were also introduced in the academic journal of Chinese archaeology(考古) 6 in 2009. The summary of the results that focused on finding features of the costume relics and its meaning were as follows: 1. Male and female statues, both of which were excavated from the Runghai ancient tomb sites, had the shape and composition of the government official's costumes such as the Danryeong(團領), Bokdu, and Gwadae. The female's hairstyle and accessories were quite similar to other costume relics of Balhae. In particular, the male statues wearing the Danryeong and Bokdu were considered as the normal figures of government officials of Balhaeafter the mid 8th century. 2. The female statue wearing the male attire is considered as a maid, and we can confirm that women dressing up like a man was a popular trend in Tang(唐), and this trend was introduced to Balhae. 3. The back flap(垂脚) of Bokdu that the male statue is wearing in M10 of the 6th site, has a shape that has not been found in the ancient relics of both Balhae and Tang. Therefore, it is considered as a unique shape of Bokdu of Balhae. However, it needs to be observed more and discussed in the future. 4. In regards to the Gwadae, the outside of the Gwadae is decorated with jade and has an embossed carving that is gold inside. The Gwadae of the Runghaisites has a unique design and it is distinguished from other ancient relics. 5. The gold trefoil crown and the leather conical hat that were found in M14 of the 8th site can be seen as the basic composition of official's hats in ancient Korea. Also, the motif of the gold trefoil is closely related to Anthemion that is often seen in the relics of the Three Kingdom period. Thus, we can assume according to this important finding that the style of ancient Korea official's hats came from either the king or a royal family of Balhae after the mid 8th century.