
Collection Online as of September 28, 2023
Bronze gilt
Outer diameter: 1.9 cm (3/4 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1917.1042
not on view
Both everyday objects and ornaments such as this ring were standard burial goods for the period. Furnishing tombs with an elaborate assemblage of objects was believed to honor and comfort the newly dead. Generally, Goryeo tombs were left untouched until the late 19th century. During the colonial period (1910–45), however, Japanese archaeologists aggressively excavated the tombs located in Kaeseong, the former capital of the Goryeo period. It's highly possibly this bronze ring came from one of those excavated tomb sites.