In the winter of 1966, the tomb of Rong Lu, a heavy minister at the end of the Qing Dynasty, was excavated, and 31 small silver ingots were unearthed. This batch of silver ingots has a large number, similar shapes, and more elaborate production, which may be small silver hammers made by the Qing Palace Internal Affairs Office, which has high historical value.
1. Cultural relics and silver ingots excavated from the tomb of Ronglu
Guarjia Ronglu was born on April 6, 1836, in the sixteenth year of Qing Daoguang (1836), the character Zhonghua, the number of the Garden, Manchurian Zhengbai banner people. He successively served as a member of the Ministry of Works, a minister of internal affairs, a shangshu of the ministry of works, a general of Xi'an, an infantry commander, a minister of prime minister, a minister of war, a minister of military aircraft, and a scholar of Wenhuadian University. After Xin You's coup d'état, he was deeply appreciated and trusted by Empress Dowager Cixi. According to the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, "Rong Lu jiu went straight to the inner court and was trusted by the empress dowager. The longing of care, for a moment, is incomparable. Nothing is too detailed, and it is always necessary to make up one's mind. Guangxu died on April 11, 1903, 2903, and was given to Taifu and Yuwen Zhong, which can be described as a noble life and death.
Ronglu Tomb is located in the Rong family cemetery in Xihuaying Village, Gaobeidian Township, Chaoyangmenwai, Beijing, covering an area of more than 30 acres, surrounded by walls, and there is a door in the middle of the south wall. Inside the tomb of Rong Lu, there are four coffins, which are buried together with Rong Lu and his wife and concubines. The coffin is accompanied by a set of 148 pieces of gold, silver, jade and other burials. Among them, gold utensils include gold gourds, gold leaves, bracelets, rings, hairpins, earrings, nail sets and gold ingots; silverware has rings, bracelets, nail sets, flat hairpins and silver dollar treasures, etc.; jade has smoke pots, pendants, pendants, wrenches, plumes, hooks, rings, etc., as well as precious items such as as asadelic beads and Western watches. The 31 silver dollar treasures unearthed are all small silver ingots, which weigh relatively lightly, with a total weight of about 27 taels in the Qing Dynasty, and are collected in the Capital Museum.
These small silver ingots, boat-shaped, winged at both ends, slightly flat bottom, and densely packed with small honeycombs at the bottom and near the ingots, are caused by the rapid release of oxygen during the casting of silver ingots. The surface of the silver ingot is relatively flat, some of which have a circular stamp on the face, and some silver ingots have square pits in the center. The body is relatively complete, the surface layer is covered with black or gray rust, and the rust layer is thinner, revealing the pearlescent treasure of the silver ingot body.
Judging from the size and weight of silver ingots, they can be roughly divided into two types.
Type I, 23 pieces. The size and weight are large, and the ingot surfaces are all round stamped. The length is 27-29 mm, the width is 16-18 mm, the height is 22-25 mm, the length and width vary slightly, only the height varies slightly due to the different wings, and it should be cast with the same or similar molds. The production is more delicate, the body is regular, the bottom is flat, and there are traces of trimming. The weight is between 33.8-34.2 grams, and the variation is also small. According to the Qing Dynasty balance system, Jingping is about 35.01 grams per two, and this type of silver ingot weighs about 34 grams, which belongs to one or two types of small silver ingots. The circular stamps are deeper, all in the middle of the ingot surface, and the content is the word "Fu" or "Shou", with the word "Shou" being the most.
Type II, 8 pieces. This type of silver ingot has a smaller number of ingots, and the shape is similar to that of type I small silver ingots, but the shape of the instrument is smaller. Silver ingots are 22-25 mm long, mostly between 22-23 mm, 13-18 mm wide, mostly 14 mm, and 15-18 mm high. The dimensions are slightly smaller than the former. The weight is relatively close, weighing 17-17.4 grams, which is about half the weight of the type I small silver ingot, which should be a five-dollar silver ingot. The casting is rough, the size difference is large, the bottom is slightly uneven, and some silver ingots have quicksilver at the bottom or around. The ingot surface is small and no circular stamps are found.
2. Sources and uses of small silver ingots
The small silver ingots excavated from the Ronglu Tomb are only one or two and five coins, and the shape and system are unified, and the weight of the same type of silver ingots is relatively close. These silver ingots, which are smaller in weight, are made to the same specifications, and have auspicious stamps, which are obviously not circulating currency, but are used as gifts and gifts for rewards and gifts. These silver ingots were unearthed from the tomb of Rong Lu and are speculated to be small silver hammers made by the Qing Palace.
In the Qing Dynasty, the court had the custom of minting gold and silver hammers, which were used to reward military merit or reward ministers. For example, in the first month of the fifty-eighth year of Qianlong (1793), the Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was instructed to do "seventy points of silver treasure, one hundred silver coins, two hundred pieces of one or two heavy silver hammers, three hundred pieces of five coins of heavy silver hammers, five hundred pieces of three coins of heavy silver hammers, one thousand pieces of silver coins, and one hundred pieces of inner jun hammers." There are one-dollar, three-dollar, five-dollar, one- or two-dollar silver coins cast in the manufacturing office, and the smaller the weight, the greater the quantity. Small silver coins cast by the Ministry of the Interior are usually stamped. For example, the "three coins and heavy silver cast on March 29, 1792) of Qianlong were minted on March 29, and the weight of one hundred and fifty-two was stamped on February 20, 1792" in (Qianlong)." The contents of the stamp are not recorded in the archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and judging from the existing silver hammers in the Forbidden City, the contents of the stamp should be "Fu", "Lu", "Shou", "Xi" and other auspicious words. The small silver hammers cast by the Office of the Ministry of the Interior are mainly used for rewards or gifts, and there are many relevant documents. For example, in the forty-eighth year of Qianlong (1783), the Qianlong Emperor rewarded "eighty-eight people who returned to Rehe, and each person was rewarded with one or two silver hammers." In the ninth year of Jiaqing (1804), the Jiaqing Emperor rewarded military merit with "one or two silver medals with one hundred faces, one or two silver medals with one hundred, five coins and two hundred silver hammers, and handed over to Delent Tai to identify those who contributed to the bravery of the soldiers, and rewarded them according to their discretion.". In the first year of Guangxu (1875), the emperor said: "For several days, Yu Bei Ci'an Duan Yu KangQing Emperor Empress Dowager Cixi Duanyou Kang Yi Emperor's vehicle, and the royal camp vehicle, and the various officials and soldiers of the YuBei Guan Defense Camp Inner Court Princess Vehicle, etc., each member of the name was rewarded with one or two silver hammers for one or two armies." Issued by the Department of The Cantonese Reserve". Thus, from the Qianlong Dynasty onwards at the latest, the Qing court had the habit of rewarding small gold and silver coins, usually rewarding the ministers of the inner court, or the retinue of the emperor, or rewarding military merits. In addition, small silver hammers were used as gifts for the elderly in the court. The "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" records, "In the morning of the Chinese New Year's Eve, filial piety and worship of the god Buddha's ancestors." After the ceremony, there was an endless stream of people entering the palace, including Princess Gulun, the heir of Xiao Qin, the Fu Jin of king Gong, King Gong, and King Qing, the wife of Xun and Tao Er belle, and the wives and daughters of those who had not been close to the branch and who had been given titles in their previous lives, and the wives and daughters of Manchurian officials... Each is rewarded with a red satin flat gold purse, and a small silver ingot in the middle to bet on the age." These silver ingots are lighter in weight, and some are packed in fuzi purses, which is an honor rather than a material reward. The small silver ingot buried in the tomb of Rong Lu should be a small silver hammer given by the royal family.
First of all, Rong Lu, as a close minister of Empress Dowager Cixi, held a high position of power and had more opportunities to receive rewards, so it was reasonable to give the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make small silver hammers. Secondly, the small silver ingots excavated from the Ronglu Tomb are in the shape and weight of the same, and the production is more exquisite, and some of the bottoms have been repaired and smoothed to resemble the small silver ingots made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the Guangxu period of the Forbidden City, and the two are similar in time. Third, the ingot surface is stamped with the words "Fu" and "Shou", which is the same as the jiyu stamp commonly used in the Small Silver Class of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Therefore, the small silver ingots (especially one or two types) excavated from the tomb were small silver ingots made by the Qing Palace Manufacturing Office.
In recent years, the auction market has also had small silver ingots similar to those from Rong lu's tomb. For example, between 2020 and 2021, China Guardian auctioned one or two types of silver ingots from the Qing Dynasty, which were more elaborately made, and the ingots had circular Auspicious stamps such as "Fu", "Shou" and "Xi". The shape, weight, and stamp of these small silver ingots are similar to those of one or two silver keys in the tomb of Rong Lu, which may be silver hammers made by the Qing Palace Internal Affairs Office, or small silver ingots imitated by the folk silver stoves in the capital.
Three reasons for the burial of small silver ingots in the tomb of Ronglu
In the Qing Dynasty, silver ingots were precious metal currency, and the tombs of relatives of the emperor and state, high-ranking officials and other tombs had the custom of burying silver ingots with them. For example, in 1962, Qing Dynasty tombs were discovered in Miyun Donggezhuang, Beijing, and the cultural relics task force excavated and cleaned up the tombs of yonghuang, the eldest son of the Qianlong Emperor, the third son Yongzhang, and the fifth son Yongqi, and unearthed more than 200 pieces of cultural relics such as epitaphs, gold and silver, jade, and porcelain, of which 5 were silver ingots, namely 2 12 weight ingots, 1 12 horseshoe silver, 1 52 waist ingots, and 1 silver ingot.
Rong Lu was a heavy minister at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and buried a large number of precious gold, silver, jade, etc., including 8 Gold Bars of the Qing Dynasty, with a total measured weight of 2906 grams. Ronglu had a high status and rich family wealth, and had the needs and economic conditions for burial silver ingots.
A golden gourd was unearthed from the tomb of Ronglu
The reason why the Ronglu tomb is buried with small silver ingots, instead of the five two Songjiang silver or the twelve or fifty two horseshoe silver commonly used in the capital, is related to the fact that the small silver ingots are court rewards. Among the burial utensils of the tomb are royal bounties such as golden gourds. The vessel is gourd-shaped, implying the meaning of blessing and lu, and the body is engraved with the words "Empress Dowager Chengshen Chongyang gave her subjects Ronglu", which is displayed as a gift from Empress Dowager Cixi. These small silver ingots are not heavy and valuable, but they are a symbol of honor and status.
The small silver ingots unearthed from the Ronglu Tomb reflect the funerary customs of the late Qing Dynasty, and the rich and noble still bury silver ingots with them, but do not pay attention to the number of them, only have symbolic significance. These small silver ingots, together with gold, jade and other utensils, should also be the tomb owner's favorite things during his lifetime, or the rewards in the palace.