Heirloom Seal of the Realm
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| Heirloom Seal of the Realm 傳國璽 传国玺 | |
|---|---|
 Speculative inscription of the seal in bird-worm seal script, from chapter 26 of Chuogeng Lu by Tao Zongyi, Yuan dynasty. | |
| Armiger | Imperial China |
| Adopted | 221 BC |
| Motto | 受命於天 既壽永昌 (Shòumìng yú tiān jì shòu yǒngchāng, "Having received the Mandate from Heaven, may (the emperor) lead a long and prosperous life.")
受命 |
| Use | Official seal of the state |
| Heirloom Seal of the Realm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 傳國璽 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 传国玺 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Heirloom Seal of the Realm (traditional Chinese: 傳國玉璽; simplified Chinese: 传国玉玺; pinyin: chuán guó yù xǐ), also known in English as the Imperial Seal of China, was a Chinese jade seal, either carved out of lantian (蓝田) jade, or, allegedly, the Heshibi, a sacred piece of jade.[1] The Seal was created in 221 BC, shortly after Qin Shi Huang unified China and established the Qin dynasty, China's first imperial dynasty. The Heirloom Seal served as the imperial Chinese seal throughout the next millennium of Chinese history, and its possession was seen as a physical symbol of the Mandate of Heaven.
According to historical sources, the seal was about four cun in diameter and had five coiling chi-dragons carved on top, and was alternatively called "The Seal of the Son of Heaven.[2][3]
The Heirloom Seal was lost around the end of the Tang dynasty (618–907) or during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960).
Creation
[edit]In 221 BC, the Seal was created when Qin Shi Huang destroyed the remaining Warring States and united China under the Qin dynasty. Heshibi was a famous piece of jade stone which previously belonged to the Zhao state. Passing into the hands of the new Emperor of China, he ordered it made into his Imperial seal. The words, "Having received the Mandate from Heaven, may (the emperor) lead a long and prosperous life." (受命於天, 既壽永昌) were written by Prime Minister Li Si in bird-worm seal script, and carved onto the seal by Sun Shou.[4] The Seal was carved from jade because, in ancient China, jade was symbolic of the inner beauty within humans. Many tombs and burials from ancient China contained decorative jade, including a jade burial suit unearthed in 1968 that belonged to a Han prince, Liu Sheng. During the Han dynasty, the Chinese associated jade with immortality to a point where some individuals attempted to drink jade in liquid form to gain eternal life.[citation needed] This association further complements the idea of the Mandate of Heaven and why the Seal was carved in jade, China's most valued material for thousands of years.
Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period
[edit]
At the death of the second Emperor of Qin, his successor Ziying surrendered the Seal to Liu Bang, the new emperor of the Han dynasty whereafter, it was known as the "Han Heirloom Seal of the Realm". At the end of the Western Han dynasty in 9 CE, Wang Mang, the usurper, forced the Han empress dowager to surrender the Seal. The empress dowager, in an angered protest, threw the Seal on the ground, chipping one corner or horn. Later, Wang Mang ordered the corner to be restored with gold, and declared himself as the emperor of the newly established Xin dynasty. Wang Mang's regime proved to be unstable, as peasant rebellions broke out soon after and Wang Mang was killed in battle at the hands of the Red Eyebrows and Lülin rebel forces. The Seal would eventually be passed through the interregnum rulers Liu Xuan and Liu Penzi, until it finally came under the possession of Liu Xiu, later Emperor Guangwu of Han, and his imperial line. [5] [6] As the Seal was passed on even as dynasties rose and fell, it was became a legitimising device, signalling the Mandate of Heaven. Thus seal became the object of rivalry and armed conflict. Regimes which possessed the seal declared themselves, and are often historically regarded, as legitimate. At the end of the Han dynasty in the 3rd century AD, General Sun Jian found the Imperial Seal when his forces occupied the evacuated Han imperial capital Luoyang, in the course of the campaign against Dong Zhuo, giving it to his chief, warlord Yuan Shu. [7] [8] Yuan Shu then declared himself emperor under the short-lived Zhong dynasty in 197. [9][10] This act angered the many warlords such as Cao Cao and Liu Bei, leading to several crushing defeats by each army. The other warlords, even after being issued with an imperial decree, refused to help Cao Cao and Liu Bei in defeating Yuan Shu.[11] When Yuan Shu was defeated in 199 by Liu Bei, the Seal came into the hands of Cao Cao, whose son Cao Pi proclaimed the Wei dynasty as the legitimate successor state to Han in 220. The Seal remained in the hands of Wei dynasty emperors until the last emperor Cao Huan was forced to abdicate in Sima Yan's favor, passing the Seal from Cao to Sima and establishing the Jin dynasty in 265.
Loss
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The Seal was passed through the Cao Wei dynasty, Jin dynasty, Sixteen Kingdoms period, Southern and Northern dynasties period, Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty, but was lost in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960). [12]
What happened to the seal during and after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period is not known. Three theories exist as to when, and how, it was lost:
- In 937, at the end of the Later Tang, when its last emperor (Li Congke) died by self-immolation.
- In 946, when the Emperor Taizong of Liao captured the last emperor of the Later Jin state.
- The seal came into the hands of the later Yuan emperors.
When the Ming armies captured the Yuan capital in 1369, it captured just one out of the eleven personal seals of the Yuan emperors; The Heirloom Seal was not noted to be among them. In 1370, Ming armies invaded the Northern Yuan dynasty and captured some treasures brought there by the retreating Yuan emperor. However, once more the Heirloom Seal was not noted to be among them. By the beginning of the Ming dynasty, the Seal was known to be lost. Neither the Ming nor the Qing dynasties possessed it. Reducing the significance of the lost Heirloom Seal partly explains the Qing Emperors' obsession with creating numerous imperial seals — the Forbidden City in Beijing has a collection of 25 seals solely for the emperors' official use.
In the early 20th century, as the Qing Empire pursued reforms to modernise its system of government, a series of official seals were created for use on documents and instruments of the imperial government. Although square in shape following the traditional design, the seal dies themselves were made of wood, in imitation of Western government precedents and, contrary to earlier Qing imperial seals which were bilingual (Chinese and Manchu), had only Chinese text. Four seal dies were carved: "The Seal of the Great Qing" (大清國寶), "The Seal of the Great Qing Emperor" (大清皇帝之寶), "The Great Seal of the Great Qing Empire" (大清帝國之璽), and "The Seal of the Emperor of the Great Qing Empire" (大清帝國皇帝之寶). Of these, the Great Seal of the Great Qing Empire represented the official, modern "replacement" for the lost heirloom seal. The seal dies are in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, and none show signs of use. After the fall of the Qing Empire in 1912, the Republic of China government likewise adopted a set of square-shaped official seals. The People's Republic of China initially adopted a similar square seal, but this fell out of use by 1954.
Several seals have since been claimed as the lost Heirloom Seal, but none have held up under scrutiny. In at least one case, the seal concerned was found to be a personal seal of an emperor, rather than the Heirloom Imperial Seal.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ↑ The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing 30: Imperial Seals and Signets – Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Wenwu Zhenpin Quanji 30: Xi yin (Taiwanese Chinese) – 2008. by Beijing Palace Museum. ISBN 9620753453, ISBN 978-9620753459
- ↑ Chu Suiliang. 玉玺记. 始皇既并天下，取赵璧琢而为之，方四寸，纽五盘龙面，曰：受命于天，既寿永昌。丞相李斯之小篆也。玺上隐起为盘龙文，曰：受天之命，皇帝寿昌。
- ↑ Ma Duanlin. "115, 王禮考十". 文獻通考 Wenxian Tongkao. 秦以印稱璽，以玉，不通臣下，用制乘輿六璽：曰「皇帝行璽」、「皇帝之璽」、「皇帝信璽」、「天子行璽」、「天子之璽」、「天子信璽」。又始皇得藍田白玉為璽，螭虎鈕，文曰「受天之命，皇帝壽昌。」；《文獻通考》卷一百十五·王禮考十引注衛宏曰：秦前民皆佩綬、金、玉、銀、銅、犀、象為方寸璽，各服所好。秦以來天子獨稱璽，又以玉，群下莫得用。其玉出藍田山，題李斯書，其文曰「受命於天，既壽永昌。」高祖入咸陽，秦王子嬰以璽降，其璽乃始皇藍田玉璽、螭獸鈕，在六璽之外。帝既誅項籍，即天子位，因服其璽，世世傳受，號曰「漢傳國璽」。
- ↑ "48". Book of Later Han. 秦以前以金、玉、银为方寸玺。秦以来天子独称玺，又以玉，腢下莫得用。其玉出蓝田山，题是李斯书，其文曰“受命于天，既寿永昌”，号曰传国玺。
- ↑ Chu Suiliang. 玉玺记. 秦灭传汉，历王莽，为元后投之于地，一角小缺。莽灭，校尉公宾龙以玺诣更始，以玺上刘盆子，盆子面缚入于后汉光武。
- ↑ "48". Book of Later Han. 汉高祖定三秦，子婴献之，高祖即位乃佩之。王莽篡位，就元后求玺，后乃出以投地，上螭一角缺。及莽败时，仍带玺绂，杜吴杀莽，不知取玺，公宾就斩莽首，并取玺。更始将李松送上更始。赤眉至高陵，更始奉玺上赤眉。建武三年，盆子奉以上光武。
- ↑ "46". Records of the Three Kingdoms. 堅入洛，掃除漢宗廟，祠以太牢。堅軍城南甄官井上，旦有五色氣，舉軍驚怪，莫有敢汲。堅令人入井，探得漢傳國璽，文曰“受命於天，旣壽永昌”，方圜四寸，上紐交五龍，上一角缺。初，黃門張讓等作亂，劫天子出奔，左右分散，掌璽者以投井中
- ↑ Chu Suiliang. 玉玺记. 灵帝崩，少帝失位，掌玺者投于井，为孙坚所得。袁术拘其妻而夺之。术死，荆州刺史徐璆得，还许献之。
- ↑ "46". Records of the Three Kingdoms. 袁术将僭号，闻坚得传国玺，乃拘坚夫人而夺之。
- ↑ "75". Book of Later Han. 又少見讖書，言「代漢者當塗高」，自云名字應之。又以袁氏出陳為舜後，以黃代赤，德運之次，遂有僭逆之謀。又聞孫堅得傳國璽，遂拘堅妻奪之。
- ↑ "48". Book of Later Han. 術死軍破，璆得其盜國璽，及還許，上之
- ↑ Chu Suiliang. 玉玺记. 汉灭传魏，魏又传晋。怀失政，玺投刘聪。聪死，刘曜得之，传于石勒、季龙、冉闵。季龙磨其隐起之文，刻其旁曰：天命石氏。冉闵败，其将蒋干以玺送建业，历东晋宋齐梁。侯景陷台城，简文以玺上景。景将侯子般盗玺走至栖霞寺，僧惠永得之。陈永定三年僧死，弟子普智奉玺献陈。陈止传隋，隋末没于宇文化及，及又没于窦建德。至大唐武德四年，太宗文武皇帝为天策上将军，东讨擒窦建德，德妻曹氏及左仆射裴矩奉玺上献。
Sources
[edit]- Chen Shou (3rd century). Pei Songzhi (ed.) Records of the Three Kingdoms. Taipei: Dingwen Printing, 1977.
- Morrow, David & Pearlstein, Elinor (1998). "Immortal stone: Jade of the Han dynasty". Calliope, 9(2): 24.
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