Treasure Canons · TC12
Coins and Measures
Coins, note plates, weights and export porcelain: trade and trust told through objects
34treasures
10dynasties
22institutions
This canon collects treasures of commerce and trade: coins and note plates across the dynasties, weights that set the standard of exchange, porcelain made for export, textiles and gold and silver from the Silk Road, and trade archives such as overseas remittance letters. Coins fixed value and measures fixed quantity; together these objects record the reach and trust of ancient commerce.
Caravans traversing the Silk Road, banknotes pioneering trade: tracing how ancient trans-regional merchant syndicates engineered the world's earliest commercial credit and trust networks.
A camel caravan and travellers cross the dunes toward a fortified pass on the hills, while in the foreground a steelyard hangs its pan and weight above strings of square-holed coins, beside a porcelain plate painted with a landscape and rolls of patterned silk. Coins, scales, porcelain and silk evoke value and trust along the trade routes of the Silk Road.
Bronze, Gold & Silver
3 treasuresJade, Stone & Seals
2 treasuresCeramics & Glass
11 treasuresCalligraphy, Painting & Rubbings
7 treasuresBooks & Documents
2 treasuresLacquer, Wood & Furniture
1 treasuresTextiles & Costume
5 treasuresSculpture & Statuary
4 treasuresImplements & Instruments
5 treasuresTypes by dynasty
Where this canon's treasures fall by type and dynasty; click an ink dot to open that dynasty at that type.