• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.122-134
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• 2016

The Mural Tomb of Xu Xianxiu(AD 571), a high ranking official in Northern Qi period, is located in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China. Despite having been raided, it was still discovered to contain over 530 pieces, such as artifacts and murals, in excellent state of preservation. These murals are noteworthy for their high level of detail compared to other murals from the same era, and are important for understanding the historical context of active East-West and Han-Hu cultural exchange in the $6^{th}$ to $7^{th}$ century. The murals of Xu Xianxiu's tomb depict round-collared and narrow-sleeved garments as well as straight collared robes typical of the Xianbei tribe's attire. Notable are the ermine fur overcoat and a headwear with flares on the left and right thought to be unique to the Xianbei. The wife and female servants show female attire of the Xianbei at the time; this attire can be characterized by narrow-sleeved long gowns and asymmetrical flying-bird buns. Despite the anti-Han policy of Northern Qi, influences such as the right sided gathering of the robes and embellished hair styles remain. The procession also depicts the three-cornered headdress and long-tailed hood of the Xianbei men, which have been recorded in documents. The large rounded pearl pattern containing the palmette, the divine animal, and bodhisattva's head motifs show the influence of the Western China [Xi'yu]. Considering that Northern Qi had more active interactions with the three ancient kingdoms of Korea than with the Southern Kingdoms[Nanchao], the findings of this study call for further research on the correlation between the attire of ancient Korea and Northern Qi.