Warring States period

Ying Yuan

State of Chu

戰國時期

郢爰

楚國造

Item number: A3294

Year: 447-223 BC

Material: Gold (>ca.900)

Size: 18.0 x 14.0 mm

Weight: 13 g

Manufactured by: Ying Mint

Provenance: Da Chen Stamps and Coins Collection 2015

This is a gold currency piece known as Ying Yuan, issued by the state of Chu during the Warring States period.

The Ying Yuan is rectangular in shape and bears an intaglio square seal on its obverse, inscribed with the large seal script characters “郢爰”, read from right to left. The character “郢” is rendered in a reversed form, resembling “阝呈”. Interpretations of “爰” vary, with alternative readings including “寽”, “爯”, and “布”. The impression of the seal results in a sunken centre with raised edges. A square frame is engraved along the border, and a raised frame remains along the outer edge. Multiple chisel marks appear in the lower left corner, possibly intended to adjust the weight. The reverse bears numerous irregular scratches, the origin of which is uncertain. It is unclear whether they align with the account in Dream Pool Essays (Mengxi Bitan), which states, “The reverse bears marks of five fingers and a palm, the lines clearly visible. It is said to be the transformation of clay, the handprints as if from grasping the clay.”

The Ying Yuan functioned as a weighed currency, its value determined through balancing scales and standard weights. The stamped seal represented the Chu state’s official guarantee of the gold’s purity. Analyses of extant specimens suggest that the gold content typically exceeded 90%, with some reaching up to 99%. As early as the late Spring and Autumn period, round gold discs with stamps were already in circulation in Chu territory. These gradually evolved into turtle-shaped, tile-shaped, and eventually rectangular formats. The development trend included an increase in the number of seals, moving from few to many; the progression from preserving complete seals with blank margins to densely filling the surface even at the expense of destroying earlier impressions; a reduction in spacing between seals; and a transformation from thick and uneven plates to thinner and more uniform ones. Based on the seal’s structural features, this specimen corresponds to Type II “Ying Yuan” gold plates unearthed in 1979 from Tomb No. 6 in Shou County, Anhui Province. Similar forms of gold currency have been found across the territories once held by the Seven Warring States. According to historical records, such currency continued to circulate until AD 95 (the second year of Emperor Wu of Han’s Taishi reign), when the introduction of linzhi and matijin standardised the form of gold coinage.

The name “Ying Yuan” does not appear in historical texts. The earliest known reference to the physical currency may date to the Eastern Jin dynasty. In AD 345 (the first year of Yonghe under Emperor Mu of Jin), the Grand Administrator of Lujiang, Lu Yong, reported finding a gold object resembling a seal along the northern shore of the Chonggu River, and had it delivered by his secretary Li Mai. During the Northern Song period, Shen Kuo recorded in Dream Pool Essays that small gold discs inscribed with seal script “Liu Zhu” were frequently discovered in the soil and streams around Bagong Mountain in Shouzhou. These were popularly known as “seal gold” and were believed to be “alchemical gold” produced by Liu An, the Prince of Huainan, in the Han dynasty. This account was later echoed in the Gazetteer of Fengtai County by Li Zhaoluo in the Qing dynasty, although the inscription was misread as “Zhu Liu”.

It was not until the late Qing that Fang Junyi and his son were the first to interpret the seal characters as “Ying Yuan”, with “Yuan” being a variant of “Huan”, meaning money. Wu Dacheng, in his Experiments on Weights and Measures, was the first to explain “Yuan” as an abbreviated form of the weight unit huan, equivalent to six liang (approximately 93.6 grams today). In History of the Warring States, Yang Kuan interpreted “Yuan” as “Lu”, an abbreviation of lüe, equal to half a liang (roughly 7.8 grams). Japanese scholar Hayashi Kinami, in his article “Weight Units in the Warring States Period”, interpreted the term as “cheng”, also a weight unit. Han Shumao, alternatively, interpreted it as “bu”.

In the early Spring and Autumn period, in 689 BC, King Wen of Chu (Xiong Zi) ascended the throne in Ying, marking the relocation of the capital from Danyang to Ying (modern-day Yicheng in Xiangyang City, Hubei Province). In 506 BC, the Wu state invaded Ying, forcing King Zhao of Chu to flee; even after returning, warfare continued. In 504 BC, King Zhao moved the capital to Ruo (also within modern Yicheng), renaming the city Ying—though some sources refer to it as Yan-Ying. A few years later, the capital was moved to Jiangling, also known as Jinan City (modern Jingzhou District, Jingzhou City, Hubei Province), or Ji-Ying. In 447 BC, Chu annexed the state of Cai. In 241 BC, during the twenty-second year of King Kaolie of Chu’s reign, the capital moved east to Shouchun—originally part of Xia Cai territory—and was again named Ying. Later generations referred to it as Shou-Ying. In 223 BC, Qin forces captured Shou-Ying, bringing an end to the Chu state.

From the Warring States period onward, increasing frequency of transport and trade facilitated the use of gold bullion currency in international trade, marking the first instance in Chinese history of a unified market across northern China. Due to its extensive production, widespread circulation, and broad acceptance among merchants and commoners, Yuan Jin became one of the most representative forms of gold currency.

物件編號: A3294

年代: 公元前 447-223 年

材質: 黃金 (多大於900‰)

尺寸: 18.0 x 14.0 mm

重量: 13 g

製造地:

來源: 大城郵幣社 2015

這是一枚戰國時期楚國鑄行之金質貨幣「郢爰」。

此「郢爰」形制呈方版狀,正面鈐有陰文方印,印文「郢爰」大篆。二字由右至左順讀。「郢」字傳形反書呈「阝呈」。「爰」則釋法多元,另有「寽」、「爯」、「布」等說。由於壓印,呈中間凹、四周凸的形狀。邊緣陰刻方框,外緣留有方框突起。左下角有多次鏟挖痕跡,可能為了調整重量。背面有許多不規則劃痕,不知是否一如《夢溪筆談》所述,「背有五指及掌痕,紋理分明。傳者以謂埿之所化,手痕正如握埿之跡。」。

「郢爰」為一種秤量貨幣,使用時以天平及砝碼秤量以判斷價值。其上鈐印為楚國以其國家信譽保證黃金之純度。以實物測算,黃金含量大多達九成以上,個別可達九成九。春秋晚期楚地便已有加戳鈐記的圓餅金,而後逐漸發展為龜版形、板瓦型,再到長方形,發展的趨向是印數由少到多;印記由保持完整,邊餘零碎留白,後不惜破壞鈐記的完整性也要在平面上蓋滿;印距由大而小,厚度由厚而薄,由厚度不均到較均勻。依鈐文結構,此「郢爰」應同公元1979年,安徽壽縣出土的壽6號II型「郢爰」金版。類似形制的黃金貨幣,出土地廣布戰國七雄所曾領有的土地,而據史籍,應持續流通到漢武帝太始二年(公元前95年),鑄行麟趾金與馬蹄金統一黃金貨幣的形制。

「郢爰」一名不見於史籍,而歷史上實物最早可能見於東晉,「(晉穆帝)永和元年三月,廬江太守路永上言,於舂穀城北,見水岸邊有紫赤光,取得金狀如印,遣主簿李邁表送。」後北宋沈括於《夢溪筆談》中亦載「壽州八公山側土中及溪澗之間,往往得小金餅,上有篆文「劉主」字,世傳「淮南王藥金」也。得之者至多,天下謂之「印子金」是也。」以其出土處訛傳為漢代淮南王劉安煉丹所得之藥金。清代李兆洛《鳳台縣志》亦錄此說,只是將鈐文釋為「主劉」。晚清方濬益父子首開將鈐文釋為「郢爰」,「爰」即「鍰」,意同錢。吳大澂則於《權衡度量實驗考》則首將「爰」釋為重量單位「鍰」的省文,一鍰為六兩(約合今93.6公克)。楊寬《戰國史》中,則釋「爰」為「寽」,為「鋝」之省文,一鋝為半兩(約合今7.8公克)。日本學者林己奈夫於〈戦国時代の重量単位〉一文中則釋為「爯」,亦為重量單位。韓書茂則釋為「布」。

春秋早期,楚文王元年(公元前689年),楚文王熊貲於郢即位,於是都城自丹陽遷至郢(今湖北省襄陽市宜城市境內),公元前506年,吳國入侵郢都,楚昭王逃跑,回到郢後仍未停戰。公元前504年,楚王遷都於鄀(亦位於今湖北省襄陽市宜城市境內),並且把鄀城改稱郢,亦有為鄢郢一說。幾年後楚昭王遷都江陵,又名紀南城(今湖北省荊州市荊州區紀南鎮南部),亦稱紀郢。公元前447年,楚滅蔡。楚國末期,楚考烈王二十二年(公元前241年),楚國國都東遷至原屬下蔡地區的壽春,命名為郢,後世稱壽郢。公元前223年,秦軍陷壽郢,楚亡。

戰國時期以降,交通、貿易的頻繁,使黃金秤量貨幣成為國際貿易結算貨幣,於中國歷史上首次實現泛華北地區的單一市場整合。而「爰金」由於其鑄量之多,流通之頻繁,商民之廣泛接受,成為最具代表性的黃金貨幣之一。

類似/相同物件 請看:

中國 河南博物館 Henan Museum

https://www.chnmus.net/ch/collection/appraise/details.html?id=512158219039586693

中國 南京博物院 Nanjing Museum

https://www.njmuseum.com/en/collectionDetails?id=172

更多相關訊息請參考:

朱活主編,《中國錢幣大辭典·先秦編》,北京:中華書局,1995。

沈約撰;王仲荦點校;傅璇琮編輯,《宋書》,北京:中華書局,1974。

黄德馨,《楚爰金研究》,北京:光明日报出版社,1991。

张正明着,《楚文化史》,上海:上海人民出版社,1987。

韩书茂,〈“郢布”被误读为“郢爰”之考辨〉,《书画世界》2018:12(合肥,2018/12,页25。

陳彥良,〈中國古代的貨幣區系、黃金流動與市場整合〉,《臺大歷史學報》36(臺北,2005),頁217-265。

平勢隆郎著;李彥樺譯,《從城市國家到中華:殷商與春秋戰國時代》,新北:臺灣商務印書館,2019。

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