Page 21 - Symbols_of_Identity_Korean_Ceramics_from the Chang Collection

Three Kingdoms / Unified Silla

(57 BC–668 AD) (668–935)

uring the Three Kingdoms period of Korean history (57 BC–668 AD), the Korean
Dpeninsula was split between three independent states and a smaller federation of
chiefdoms named Gaya (42 BC–562 AD). The three kingdoms included Goguryeo (37
BC–668 AD) to the north, Baekje (18 BC–660 AD) to the southwest, and Silla (57 BC–668
AD) to the southeast. Neighboring China has long been a significant cultural and politi-
cal influence in Korea, especially beginning in the Chinese Han dynasty (206 BC–220
AD) when four Chinese commanderies were established in present-day Manchuria and
northern Korea in 108 BC. The Silla kingdom began formal diplomatic relations with
China beginning in the late fourth century. By 668, Silla had overtaken the other states in
Korea and unified most of the peninsula as one nation for the first time in history, under
the title Unified Silla (668–935).

With a government modeled after the Tang dynasty in China (618–907), Unified Silla society
was ordered around a strict hereditary class-based system. A societal ranking system known
as “bone rank” began in the Silla kingdom with the top level being the seonggol or “sacred-
bone”—a royal line of the ruling family that would go defunct in the year 654. The next
top ranking class was the jingol or “true bone” aristocracy, followed by the “head-ranks,”
and the peasant class or commoners, which contained the majority of the population.

Buddhism, a religion originating in India and imported from China, was the prevailing
belief system of the Unified Silla kingdom, influencing the material culture (cat. 8) and
legitimizing the power and prestige of rulers. Confucian philosophy was also taught at this
time to aristocratic youths. And, as throughout Korean history, shamanism, the indigenous
folk belief system based on the spiritual powers of nature, pervaded most of society.

The Korean peninsula was among the earliest regions to master the production of high-
fired stoneware, with kiln temperatures reaching 1,200 degrees Celsius, by the third and
fourth centuries. However, low-fired earthenware continued to be produced up to the eighth
century or later (cat. 8). The eight ceramic pieces featured here from the Three Kingdoms
and Unified Silla periods include a figurine, ceremonial vessels, and other jars and pots,
some with characteristic combed decorations of wavy lines.

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