Chen Jieqi (1813–1884), a coin collector in 19th-century China
Résumé
The 19th century was an interesting period for numismatics in China: one hundred scholars actively collected coins at that time, major collectors engaged in research, and in consequence fifty books or essays were published on coinage. One of the major numismatic collection, belonged to Chen Jieqi 陈介祺 (1813–1884). He embodies the general figure of the 19th-century coin collector: a civil servant, who served the emperor at the capital; a scholar, at the center of a social network of collectors; and a passionate collector, developing a family collection and preserving it for later generations. Some prominent aspects of his coin collection are addressed in this chapter.