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Northern Song Dynasty
Chunhua Yuanbao
(Regular Script Version 1)
北宋
淳化元寶
(楷書一版)
Item number: A816
Year: AD 990-994
Material: Bronze
Size: 24.0 x 24.1 x 0.9 mm
Weight: 3.0 g
Provenance:
1. Noonans 2022
2. D. L. F. Sealy Collection
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 follows the typical square-holed design. On the obverse, the four characters “Chunhua Yuanbao” are inscribed in regular script in a clockwise direction. The reverse is plain, with no inscriptions or designs, and shows significant signs of erosion.
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.