Going on at Shanghai Museum East through Jan 18, Beneath the Golden Crown: Highlights of Silla's Treasures, is one of the first exhibitions on the Chinese mainland featuring the culture of Silla, an important ancient polity on the Korean Peninsula. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

From dazzling gold crowns, vibrant glassware and jade artifacts to majestic Buddhist sculptures, the ongoing exhibition Beneath the Golden Crown: Highlights of Silla's Treasures at Shanghai Museum East presents one of China's first showcases devoted to the ancient civilization of Silla on the Korean Peninsula.

The exhibition has been organized by the Shanghai Museum in collaboration with the Gyeongju National Museum in South Korea.

Running from Sept 23 to Jan 18, 2027, it brings together 260 objects that distill the spirit of Silla culture, placing them alongside works from the Shanghai Museum's collection to explore the exercise of power and the cultural landscape, to read the lives and aesthetic pursuits of the Silla people, and to retrace the kingdom's rise and decline.

Silla was one of the most important ancient polities on the Korean Peninsula. According to the later chronicle Samguk Sagi, its history is believed to date to around 57 BC, with its rule ending in 935.

The Gyeongju National Museum is dedicated to preserving, displaying, and researching Silla history and culture, second in scale only to the National Museum of Korea (Seoul), according to Yoon Sangdeok, its director.

"We hope this exhibition allows visitors to experience the depth and sublime beauty of Silla culture from a fresh perspective and enjoy a meaningful journey connecting the past and the present," Yoon says. "We also hope to continue exchange and cooperation between the Gyeongju National Museum and the Shanghai Museum through this exhibition."

Going on at Shanghai Museum East through Jan 18, Beneath the Golden Crown: Highlights of Silla's Treasures, is one of the first exhibitions on the Chinese mainland featuring the culture of Silla, an important ancient polity on the Korean Peninsula. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

The Silla exhibition is a response to the Shanghai Museum's 2021 exhibition of ancient Chinese bronze culture at the National Museum of Korea and represents the fruits of that bilateral cooperation, Yoon told the media at the exhibition opening in Shanghai on Sept 23.

The exhibition features several important artifacts designated as South Korean national treasures that are rarely shown abroad. "We went through a long, complicated process to gain official approval, because it was important to show them at this exhibition in Shanghai," he says.

It offers a multifaceted perspective on Silla through three themes: The Culture of Gold, International Exchanges and Buddhist Art.

Magnificent metalwork, represented by the gold crowns, marks the most prominent chapter of Silla culture. The Silla people gained a deep understanding of gold as a material and used it to express supreme power. The Gyeongju museum's director explains that crowns made of high-purity gold have only been excavated from burial sites in Gyeongju, the Silla capital.

An exquisite crown unearthed in 1921 is among the gold artifacts at the exhibition's center. Its details imitate tree branches and deer antlers, reflecting the ancient Silla people's worship of nature: the tree, with its roots reaching deep into the earth and its branches extending high into the sky, was viewed as a medium connecting heaven and earth, while the deer was revered as a mythical creature.

According to Zhao Jia, a curator in the Shanghai Museum's exhibition department, the museum selected objects from its own collection to highlight the cultural exchanges between China's Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Silla. "The polychrome-glazed pottery figurines reflect how Tang Dynasty clothing styles influenced Silla, from officials' robes to women's attire," she says.

The Green-glazed Biyong-shaped Pottery Inkstone from the Shanghai Museum is displayed alongside the Clay Six-footed Inkstone from Gyeongju, highlighting their similar design details.

"China and the Korean Peninsula share deeply rooted ties, as we are geographically contiguous and culturally connected," says Chu Xiaobo, director of the Shanghai Museum.

"Gyeongju, as the capital of Silla, with its majestic royal tombs and numerous Buddhist temples, serves as an 'open-air museum' that preserves Silla's historical character. Through this joint endeavor, we hope to employ these cultural treasures as a bridge across mountains and seas. May this exhibition renew our bond of mutual learning and exchange, and jointly showcase the open and inclusive spirit of the East."