Comparing The Gold And Jade Crown And The Merovingian Looped Fibulae

The Gold and Jade Crown and the Merovingian Looped Fibulae are similar in their context and content. The Gold and Jade Crown was produced by the Silla Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period of Korea. The crown is an ornate display of the religion and wealth of the queen who wore it during ceremony and was eventually buried it in. The Merovingian Looped Fibulae was also worn by a queen who was buried with the object. The fibulae is an intricate metalwork object that fastened the queen’s garments while also displaying her wealth and religion through the use of ornate materials and religious iconography. The fibula and crown both show the wealth of the wearer and their religious inclination in order to establish power of the Silla and Merovingian

The Three Kingdoms period was an era of Korean history in which, as the name suggests, three major kingdoms were fighting over territory in Korea. The Silla Kingdom was the largest of the three kingdoms and would eventually take control of Korea. In their bid to take control the Silla Kings and Queens saw their garments as a way to display their power. The Gold and Jade Crown is crafted out of semi-precious stones, including jade and gold. In the Silla Kingdom, gold was reserved for the highest ranking royals. The value of the materials used in the crown was a tangible way for the Silla royalty to display their wealth and power. The Merovingian fibulae were created by the Frankish Merovingian dynasty. The Frankish Merovingian dynasty was one of several different Frankish royal groups vying for power after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The fibulae itself was adopted by the Merovingians and many other barbarian groups from the Romans. The red garnet used in this fibula and the eagle are also thought to be nods to the fallen Roman Empire. During the long reign of the

The Merovingian Looped fibulae feature a fish and again the inclusion of the red garnet and the eagle hold significance. The fish was a symbol of Christianity that was highly recognizable even among the mostly illiterate population in Medieval Europe. The red of the garnet symbolizes the blood spilled by Christian martyrs and the Passion of the Christ. The eagle evolved from a symbol of the Roman Empire to a symbol of the Christian St. John. By including religious iconography in the fibula the Merovingian Queen who wore it was identifying herself as a Christian. Again, this could have been a way for the Merovingian dynasty to gain power. Their conversion to Christianity and identification of themselves as Christians through this fibula would have allowed the Merovingians to capitalize on the growing influence of Christianity in Europe and would have created an avenue through which to unite Europeans under their rule. The Silla dynasty also saw religion as an avenue to gain power and the symbolism in the Gold and Jade Crown reflects this. The crown known as a daegwan was worn by royalty during religious ceremony. The Silla people followed the beliefs of Korean Shamanism which highlighted the connection between the natural and spiritual world. The horizontal elements on the daegwan mimic the appearance of tree branches. In Korean Shamanism the inclusion of imagery relating to trees was important because it was