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National Treasure

Gold Waist Belt from Cheonmachong Tomb

천마총 금제 허리띠 ( 天馬塚 金製 銙帶 )

Heritage Search Detail
Classification National Treasure
Name of Cultural Properties Gold Waist Belt from Cheonmachong Tomb
Quantity 1 Item
Designated Date 1978.12.07
Age Silla
Address Gyeongju National Museum, 186, Iljeong-ro, Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do

A belt made of cloth is called gwadae. Attached to the belt are rectangular forms made of metal. This Korean gwadae influenced by China is decorated with valuable objects such as jadeite and commodities such as a small knife, a case for drugs, a whetstone, a flint and tweezers. According to lessons of formality called Yegi from China, when descendants performed the ancestral rites, on the left side of the belt there should be a towel, a grindstone, a small cup and an iron flint. On the right side are a set of bone instruments called gyeol (worn on the thumb and used in archery), an instrument called gwan which is used to suspend strings on a bow (in archery) and a large cup. The color, number and material of it represented the wearer's government posts in the Baekje and Silla Dynasty. Exhumed from the North Tomb of Hwangnam-dong, Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, a golden gwadae is 125cm in length and yopae which is worn with the gwadae, is 22.5-73.5cm in length. Gwadae is ornamented with 44 rectangular forms made out of metal, and it has 9 holes around it for linking leather or metal rings to it. Yopae is another ornament with 13 ropes in the shape of an ellipse and quadrangle. Both the gwadae and yopae were fastened around the waist of the deceased when found.