Item number: A3913

Year: AD 990-994

Material: Bronze

Size: 24.4 x 24.5 x 1.1 mm

Weight: 3.3 g

Provenance: Spink 2023

This coin, the “Chunhua Yuanbao,” was minted during the reign of Emperor Taizong, the second emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, and named after his fourth era, “Chunhua.” It holds special significance as the first instance in Chinese history of “imperial calligraphy coinage,” with the characters personally written by the emperor.

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 takes the form of the traditional square-holed cash coin characteristic of the Sinosphere. The obverse bears the inscription Chunhua Yuanbao in running script, read in clockwise order beginning from the top. The characters are relatively small. The edge of the central aperture is bevelled, so that the square hole on the reverse is smaller than that on the obverse. On the reverse, the inner border has been ground down level with the field, while the outer rim is neatly finished and broader than on the original type. Traces of the sand-casting surface are almost entirely indiscernible, suggesting that the piece was probably polished by means of a relatively modern technique. The reverse field itself is plain and without inscription.

Above and below the outer rim on the obverse, a character has been engraved respectively; these may possibly be read as chang ming (“long life”). The character chang appears in a vulgar form, close to the modern simplified graph 长; this form is recorded in the Song Yuan yilai suzipu and is attested as early as Yuan-dynasty published zaju texts. Alternatively, the upper character may be read as wu, the fifth of the Heavenly Stems, used in cyclical notation and possibly indicating a year, batch, or other numerical designation, though its precise significance remains unclear. The use of “long-life coins” may derive from the custom of benming qian, according to which, in one’s zodiac year—when one’s age is a multiple of twelve and thus in conflict with one’s zodiac sign—offerings were made at temples in prayer for peace and protection. Later, Jin Ping Mei contains the description of a newborn wearing “a willow branch with a five-coloured cord, strung with more than ten long-life coins”, which may reasonably be regarded as evidence of Ming-dynasty popular practice.

From AD 1988 onwards, gold Chunhua Yuanbao coins with a Buddha image on the reverse were excavated from temples on Mount Wutai in Shanxi; subsequently, surviving examples in silver and bronze also came to light. On the reverse rim of these pieces there occasionally appear engraved marks such as “one”, “two”, “three”, and “four”. Given their use as votive coins, these marks may have indicated the time or batch of dedication or burial. At present, the earliest non-official engraved or stamped marks on coins whose provenance can be traced are generally thought to be those found on Wanli Tongbao used locally in Manila by Chinese merchants in the Philippines, probably as guarantees or for local payment, according to a conjecture attributed to Dr Buwaina, the sinologist.

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.

The coinage system of the Northern and Southern Song was complex. Officially circulating media included both copper and iron cash, complemented by paper money that functioned in mutual relation to them. The large-scale official adoption of iron cash was historically unprecedented in the Song, driven by shortages of copper ore and by frontier-region policies intended to prevent copper cash from flowing outward. Silver also gradually assumed an increasingly important role. Copper cash circulated in multiple nominal values, ranging from equivalents of one to ten. Coinage was cast by the various circuits according to local needs: some used only copper cash, others only iron, and others employed both. Calligraphic styles likewise varied, including regular, clerical, seal script, and “Slender Gold” script, among others. Although commonly described as “bronze”, the alloy in practice was typically a ternary mixture of copper, tin, and lead.

物件編號: A3913

年代: 公元 990-994 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 24.4 x 24.5 x 1.1 mm

重量: 3.3 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」，更是中國歷史上第一種皇帝親筆書寫的「御書錢」。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。正面錢文為行書「淳化元寶」，由上而右旋讀。字體較小。錢穿邊緣為斜面，所以錢背方穿小於正面。錢背內廓磨平與地章，外輪精整，較原版型寬，地章砂型幾乎無法辨認，應該以較現代的工藝打磨過，地章則光素無文。錢面外輪上下方分別鐫有一字，可能為「長命」，「長」字為俗體字，近今日簡體字｢长｣，於《宋元以來俗字譜》中已有收錄，最早出於元代雜劇出版品。上方也可能為「戊」，即天干之五，用於紀數，可能代表著年分、批次等，詳情不明。而長命錢的使用，可能來自「本命錢」的習俗，即人逢屬相年(年齡為十二的倍數)，與生肖相衝，故往廟宇供奉以求平安。後《金瓶梅》中便有新生兒配戴「一柳五色線，上穿著十數文長命錢」的敘述，大概可以視作明代民俗的紀錄。公元1988年起，山西五台山寺出土「淳化元寶背佛像金錢」，其後亦發現有銀、銅質存世，其背緣偶有「一、二、三、四」等刻記，考慮到其作為供養錢的用途，可能表示了供奉或窖藏的時間或批次。目前，於錢幣上，可追溯來源的非官方刻記、印記，最早被認為是菲律賓中國海商於馬尼拉當地所使用的「萬曆通寶」，大概是用做擔保或俾於當地的支付，據稱為漢學家布威納博士的推測。

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。

兩宋幣制複雜，正式行用的幣材便有銅鐵兩種，配合紙幣相權。鐵錢的官方廣泛採用為宋代開歷史之先，其因為銅礦的缺乏，以及於邊路防止銅錢外流。白銀則逐漸佔有重要地位。銅幣面額折一至折十不等。各路依需求各自鑄錢，有些只用銅錢，有些只用鐵錢，有些銅鐵兼用。字體則楷書、隸書、篆書、瘦金體等不一而足。幣材則多以青銅為主，實則為銅錫鉛三元合金。