Item number: A3912

Year: AD 990-994

Material: Bronze

Size: 23.8 x 23.7 x 0.8 mm

Weight: 2.9 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This is a Chunhua Yuanbao coin, cast under Emperor Taizong, the second ruler of the Northern Song, and named after his fourth reign title, Chunhua. It is regarded as the first “imperial calligraphy coin” (yushu qian) in Chinese history, in that the inscription was written in the emperor’s own hand; it is also the earliest issue to circulate as paired coins of identical fabric yet bearing inscriptions in different calligraphic scripts. During Taizong’s 21-year reign, five reign titles were employed in succession, and Chunhua signifies “the ruler’s earnest and benevolent moral instruction of the people”.

During his 21-year reign, Emperor Taizong used five different era names, with “Chunhua” symbolising the “benevolent moral education of the ruler towards the people.”

The coin conforms to the East Asian Sinosphere tradition of a square-holed cash coin. The obverse bears the regular-script inscription “淳化元寶” (Chunhua Yuanbao), read from top to right in clockwise order. The characters are relatively small. The rim of the central square hole is bevelled, so that the square aperture on the reverse is smaller than that on the obverse. The reverse field is plain and uninscribed.

The “Chunhua Yuanbao” coin comes in three different script styles: regular script, running script, and cursive script, all of which were personally written by Emperor Taizong. Emperor Taizong, Zhao Kuangyi, was the younger brother of Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty. Due to suspicions surrounding his succession—infamously referred to as the “Candlelight and Axe Shadows” incident, implying his involvement in his brother’s death—along with several failed military campaigns against the Liao Dynasty, Taizong shifted his focus towards cultural endeavours, particularly the promotion of Confucianism.

Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty was renowned for his exceptional skill in calligraphy. He often gifted hand-written fans to court officials as tokens of favour. The famous Northern Song calligrapher Mi Fu praised Taizong’s artistry, saying that his regular script embodied the “True Eight Principles” (真造八法), his cursive reached “spiritual mastery” (草入三昧), his running script had no equal (行書無對), and his “flying white” strokes (飛白) were divine. The poet and former prime minister Wang Yucheng, who had praised the calligraphy on the “Chunhua Yuanbao” coin as mastering the “art of the bird-returning stroke” (盡返鵲回之法) and surpassing even “the fame of the heavenly dragon and earthly horse” (掩天龍地馬之名), continued to hold the coin dear even after being demoted from office, writing poems inspired by its inscription.

物件編號: A3912

年代: 公元 990-994 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 23.8 x 23.7 x 0.8 mm

重量: 2.9 g

來源: 斯賓克拍賣行 2023

這是北宋的第二任皇帝宋太宗，以其第四個年號「淳化」命名鑄造的「淳化元寶」，是中國歷史上第一種皇帝親筆書寫的「御書錢」，更是第一種同時發行不同書體但相同形制的對錢。宋太宗統治的21年間，前後使用過五個年號，「淳化」意指「君主對人民敦厚的教化」。

錢幣形制為漢文化圈傳統的方孔錢。正面錢文為楷書「淳化元寶」，由上而右旋讀。錢體較小。錢背則光素無文。

淳化元寶按照書法差異，分為楷書、行書和草書三種版本，皆為太宗的親手題字。太宗趙匡義為宋朝開國皇帝趙匡胤的弟弟，由於趙匡義的繼承深陷殺害哥哥的「燭影斧聲」嫌疑，和數次北伐遼國的軍事失敗，使他轉而推行文化工作以發揚儒學為己任。

太宗的書法造詣極高，常將親手題寫的扇子發予朝臣作為禮物。北宋知名書法家米芾以「真造八法，草入三昧，行書無對，飛白入神」誇讚太宗的書法。曾任北宋宰相的詩人王禹偁，更誇讚淳化元寶的書法是「盡返鵲回之法，掩天龍地馬之名」。即便後續遭遇貶官仍隨身攜帶淳化元寶，更以此為主題作詩。