Dimensions: Height.5.2cm; diameter.2.3cm; weight:109grams

Origin: Collected by Hunan Provincial Administration Committee of Cultural Relics in early 1950's

The quan was a kind of instrument for measuring weight. Emperor Qinshihuang unified the system of weights and measures, but since then, it changed many times. Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty gave orders to systematically examine the ancient systems. Officer Liu Cheng did so and put forward a new way for correcting weights and measures.

But Liu Chen's reform didn't totally unify the system of weights and measures,. Wang Anshi, the  prime minister, made a new rule in the reign of Yuanfeng, and issued the Bronze Quan inscribed with Chinese characters “Yuan Feng Xin Yang”(元丰新样,new sample of Yuanfeng)which played an important role in unifying the system of weights and measures left a deep impact on the weights and measures  of the  Yuan Dynasty. “Yuanfeng” (1078-1085) was the reigning title of Zhao Xu, Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty.