The Study On Gold Jewelry Culture Of The Noble Class In The Yuan Dynasty From The Perspective Of Foreign Travel Notes

Due to the convenient sea transportation in the Yuan Dynasty,European travelers Marco Polo and Friar Odoric,and Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta all traveled between the East and the West by sea,and left renowned travel notes.They provide significant historical information for studying the social features,culture and art of Yuan Dynasty.Travel notes written by foreign authors in the Yuan Dynasty involve abundant records of gold jewelry and related gold usage in the Yuan Dynasty,but few people have studied them before.This paper takes this as an entry point to get a glimpse of the cultural features of gold jewelry in the Yuan Dynasty from the works of foreigners.Based on this,this paper sorts out the unearthed objects of the same period,explores the artistic style and manufacturing process of gold jewelry in the Yuan Dynasty,discusses the overall appearance of gold jewelry in the Yuan Dynasty,and probes into the cultural exchange phenomenon contained in it.Furthermore,this paper further examines the manifestations of Yuan Dynasty’s entire gold-advocating aesthetic system in jewelry,and attempts to exhibit the magnificent orientation of Yuan Dynasty’s culture from multiple perspectives.First,this paper summarizes the current research status in related fields.Second,it selects three representative writers of travel notes and introduces their lives and travel notes.Then,based on the statistical and quantitative analysis of the information about gold jewelry and related gold usage in the three selected travel notes,this paper finds that the gold jewelry in their works primarily serves the noble class,having aesthetic function and showing off the absolute power of the ruling class.In addition,this paper makes statistics and analysis on the unearthed gold jewelry in the Yuan Dynasty,sums up its types,manufacturing techniques and patterns,makes a comparative analysis with relevant travel notes,and further delves into the characteristics of gold jewelry in this period.Finally,based on the combing and analysis of the above information,this paper discusses the reasons for the development and prevalence of gold jewelry in the Yuan Dynasty and the phenomenon of cultural exchange in combination with travel notes and related historical materials.In conclusion,all kinds of open attitudes and inclusive policies make the gold jewelry in the Yuan Dynasty present new characteristics of the times and reach the peak of new technology.