Item number: A4734

Reference number: Yan#1251

Year: AD 1078-1085

Material: Bronze

Size: 25.4 x 25.5 x 1.3 mm

Weight: 4.1 g

Provenance: Private Collector, Austria, 2021

This is a Yuanfeng tongbao (元豐通寶) cash coin, cast under the second reign title of Emperor Shenzong, the sixth monarch of the Northern Song dynasty. Shenzong’s reign spanned eighteen years, during which he promulgated two successive reign eras.

In typological form, the coin conforms to the traditional square-holed round format characteristic of the Sinosphere. The obverse bears the legend Yuanfeng tongbao in seal script (zhuanshu), read clockwise from the top (xuandu). The characters are executed in a comparatively large font. The variety designation, ‘Horizontal-Dot Bao‘ (hengdian bao), derives from the specific calligraphic execution of the final two dot strokes of the character bao (寶), which mirrors that of its matched counterpart (duiqian), the ‘Large-Character Running Script Horizontal-Dot Bao‘. The reverse of the coin is plain and unadorned.

The Yuanfeng tongbao coinage comprised both bronze and iron issues, struck in one-cash (xiaoping) and two-cash (zhe’er) denominations. The one-cash coins typically exhibit a diameter ranging from 2.29 to 2.65 centimetres and weigh between approximately 2.5 and 7.3 grammes. In respect of epigraphic artistry and typological classification, the Yuanfeng tongbao one-cash pieces display remarkable cultural sophistication. The bronze issues encompass three distinct calligraphic styles—running script (xingshu), clerical script (lishu), and seal script (zhuanshu)—which were frequently paired to form complementary matched sets (duiqian). Their varieties are exceptionally intricate, featuring even the celebrated and rare ‘Dongpo Yuanfeng’ variety, traditionally attributed to the brush of Su Shi. During this period, the Song administration operated seventeen bronze mints and nine iron mints, achieving an aggregate annual output exceeding six million strings (guan) of cash. The annual mintage of bronze coinage alone surpassed five million strings, marking another zenith in the scale of official state mintage in imperial China and securing an extraordinarily wide circulation.

In the fourth year of the Zhiping era (AD 1067), Zhao Xu ascended the throne at the age of only twenty as Emperor Shenzong. Confronted with the persistent fiscal exhaustion and structural military frailty that had plagued the empire since the reigns of Renzong and Yingzong, Shenzong harboured the grand ambition to recover the lost northern territories of You and Ji (fu You-Ji zhi mou), subjugate the Western Xia, and restore dynastic vitality. Consequently, from his accession, he prioritised fiscal administration alongside the dual imperatives of enriching the state and strengthening the military (fuguo qiangbing). In the second year of the Xining era (AD 1069), Shenzong placed his confidence in Wang Anshi, establishing the Finance Planning Commission (Zhizhi Sansi Tiaolisi) and appointing Wang as Vice Grand Councillor (canzhi zhengshi), before elevating him to Grand Councillor (zaixiang), thereby inaugurating the comprehensive reform programme known as the Xining Reforms.

Wang Anshi’s New Policies introduced measures such as the Green Sprouts Law (Qingmiao fa), the Service Exemption Law (Muyi fa or Mianyi fa), and the Market Exchange Law (Shiyi fa), enforcing the systematic monetisation of agrarian taxes, labour-service conversions, and mercantile transactions, which drove the penetration of metallic currency deep into rural agrarian communities and the plebeian economy. To accommodate the soaring demand for a circulating medium stimulated by this flourishing commercial economy, the imperial court during the Xining and Yuanfeng eras adopted comparatively relaxed policies regarding statutory prohibitions on copper and currency (tongjin and qianjin). This endowed raw copper and minted coin with pronounced commodity attributes, permitting their freer movement within the market to equilibrate supply and demand—a development directly manifested in the unprecedented volume of mintage and circulation.

Shenzong and Wang Anshi dismantled the early Song fiscal structure wherein the State Finance Commission (Sansi) exercised exclusive control over imperial revenues. Through the Finance Planning Commission, the Court of Imperial Agricultural Supervision (Sinong Si), and ultimately the Ministry of Revenue (Hubu) following the Yuanfeng administrative restructuring, they established a centralised fiscal apparatus under direct imperial control. In AD 1078, Shenzong altered the reign era to Yuanfeng, personally directing state affairs and implementing thorough administrative reorganisation. In the third year of the Yuanfeng era (AD 1080), the court formally instituted the Yuanfeng Treasury (Yuanfeng Ku), concentrating vast central reserves of surplus revenues from the service exemption tax (mianyi jisheng qian), interest accrued on ever-normal granary funds (changping xiqian), and various sequestered accounts (fengzhuang), earmarked strictly for extraordinary contingencies (feichang zhi yong), such as frontier defence expenditure and national emergencies. Although this incessant siphoning of regional wealth into the central treasury augmented the empire’s state reserves and military funds, it drastically undermined the fiscal autonomy of local prefectures. Paradoxically, the Xining-Yuanfeng period—distinguished by historically unprecedented mintage figures—precipitated an acute ‘currency famine’ (qianhuang), leaving civilian markets severely starved of ready cash.

Throughout the Xining and Yuanfeng eras, bitter factional strife between the Reformist and Conservative parties persisted alongside ceaseless institutional controversy. Prolonged administrative overwork and grave military reverses along the western frontier steadily undermined Shenzong’s health, culminating in his premature death in the eighth year of the Yuanfeng era (AD 1085) at the age of only thirty-eight. During the subsequent reign of his son, Emperor Zhezong, Grand Empress Dowager Xuanren abrogated the New Policies in their entirety, an interlude known to historiography as the ‘Yuanyou Restoration’ (Yuanyou Genghua). When Zhezong assumed direct personal rule, he reinstated the reforms in full; thenceforth, vitriolic factional conflicts plagued the Song dynasty unabated until its ultimate collapse.

物件編號: A4734

參考書目編號: Yan#1251

年代: 公元 1078-1085 年

材質: 青銅

尺寸: 25.4 x 25.5 x 1.3 mm

重量: 4.1 g

來源: 奧地利私人收藏 2021

這是北宋的第六任皇帝神宗，以其第二個年號鑄造的「元豐通寶」。神宗在位期間十八年，先後使用過兩個年號。

錢幣形制為漢文化圈傳統的方孔圓錢。錢幣正面為篆書「元豐通寶」，四字自上而右旋讀。字體較大。版式名「橫點寶」則來源於其對錢「行書大字橫點寶」，其「寶」字末二點筆的寫法。錢幣背面光素無文。

元豐通寶包含銅與鐵兩種幣材，在幣值上設有小平錢與折二錢，其中小平錢的錢徑一般介於2.29至2.65釐米之間，重量約為2.5至7.3克。在錢文藝術與版別方面，元豐通寶小平錢展現出極高的文化意趣，銅錢包含行書、隸書、篆書三種書體，多可組成對錢，版別繁複，甚至傳有蘇軾所書的名珍「東坡元豐」版別。這一時期，宋朝設有銅錢監十七處、鐵錢監九處，歲鑄銅鐵錢總額高達六百餘萬貫，其中銅錢年鑄量即達五百餘萬貫，締造了中國古代官鑄貨幣數量的又一次高峰，其流通範圍極廣。

治平四年（公元1067年），年僅二十歲的趙頊登基為帝，是為宋神宗。面對仁宗、英宗以來國用匱乏、積貧積弱的財政與軍事困局，神宗懷抱著「復幽薊之謀」的遠大志向，極欲平定西夏、振興國力，因而自即位之初便將理財與富國強兵視為首務。熙寧二年（公元1069年），神宗重用王安石，設立制置三司條例司並任命王安石為參知政事，繼而升任宰相，全面啟動了變革圖強的「熙寧變法」。

王安石變法推行青苗法、募役法（免役法）與市易法等新政，強制將農業賦稅、勞役折算與商業交易全面貨幣化，使貨幣深入至基層農村與庶民經濟之中。為了因應商品經濟蓬勃發展對流通媒介的巨大需求，熙豐時期朝廷採取了相對鬆弛的銅禁與錢禁政策，使銅材與銅錢更具商品屬性，得以自由進入市場調濟供需，反映在錢幣上，便是龐大的鑄量與流通量。

神宗與王安石打破了宋初以來三司獨攬天下財賦的舊架構，先後透過制置三司條例司、司農寺及元豐官制後的戶部，建立了直接受朝廷控制的新財權系統。公元1078年，神宗改元「元豐」，親自主持國政，推行官制改革。元豐三年（公元1080年），朝廷正式設立「元豐庫」，將各地解繳的免役積剩錢、常平息錢及各類封樁錢物大量貯存於中央，專供邊防軍費與國家急難等「非常之用」。這種將地方財利源源不絕收歸中央的舉措，雖然極大地充實了帝國的國庫與軍費儲備，卻也急劇削弱了地方州郡的財政自治能力。也在鑄錢量創歷史新高的熙豐時期，反而引發了市場現錢匱乏的「錢荒」矛盾。

熙豐年間，新舊黨爭不斷與制度物議頻仍。長期的政務操勞與邊事挫折使神宗健康每下愈況，終在元豐八年（公元1085年）早逝，年僅三十八歲。其子哲宗年間，宣仁太皇太后盡罷新法，史稱「元祐更化」。哲宗親政後又盡復，自此有宋一朝黨爭不斷，直至滅亡。