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| yna@yna.co.kr 2022-04-11 10:47:02
SEOUL, Apr. 11 (Yonhap) -- Among the 5,232 excavated relics accidentally unearthed in King Muryeong's Tomb, the resting place of the twenty-fifth ruler of the kingdom of Baekje and his queen consort, in Gongju-si, South Chungcheong Province, during the construction of a drainage system, are the gilt-bronze shoes for the king and queen.
The shoes for the King was found about 10cm from the footrest, and the shoes for the queen was found near the top of the wooden coffin. Both of the shoes were corroded and in poor condition, and was preserved form 2017 to 2021.
In the "New Report on the King Muryeong's Tomb VII" that the Gongju National Museum released on the 10th, it includes detailed information of around 3,000 artifacts excavated including bronze mirrors, vessels, pottery, and ornamental items.
In the paper, "Method and characteristics of making gilt-bronze shoes excavated from King Muryeong's Tomb," researchers from the Gongju National Museum and the Cheongju National Museum compared the structure, components and techniques of the King and Queen's.
The most noticeable difference was that the inner plate of the king's shoes was made with silver, while the queen's shoes was made of gilt-bronze. However, both the outer plates were made of gilt-bronze.
The length of the King's shoes is measured to be 382cm and 344-352cm for the queen's shoes. The width of the instep is 132-137cm for the king's shoes and 119-122cm for the queen's shoes. Overall, it showed that the king's shoes is larger.
As for the outer plate, a hexagonal pattern that is longer than the width was engraved. The size of the pattern was larger in the queen's shoes. While the inside of the pattern was decorated with thin metal ornaments called Yeongrak in both the shoes, it was revealed that the number of yeongrak was more regular in the king's shoes.
"The queen's shoes are smaller than the king's shoes and the pattern types, techniques, arrangements and accessories seems to be more simple" explained the authors of the paper.
All three of the bronze mirrors were found. These mirrors are usually placed on the head or chest of the deceased, but in the case of the King Muryeong's Tomb, the bronze mirrors were located above the head and below the feet of the tomb owner.
"The bronze mirrors found in King Muryeong's Tomb is thought to have been preciously handled by the royal family. It also shows that Baekje possessed the skills to make things including the gilt-bronze incense burner back from the Unjin capital period" said Lee Yang-soo, director of the Cheongju National Museum,
For the "Heuggal-yubyeong (brown pottery)," it said that, "it has been thought that the quality of the potteries were not as good as the other potteries, but when the CT screening was used to reveal their interior structure, it was revealed that some parts of it were swollen and the overall condition was poor."
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Haemin Kim.)
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