A pale yellowish-white jade 'Huaiyang wang xi' seal, Western Han dynasty | 西漢 淺黃白玉「淮陽王璽」方印

Jenny F. So, Chinese Jades from the Cissy and Robert Tang Collection, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Museum, Hong Kong, 2015, cat. no. 25.

蘇芳淑，《玉澤恆輝：喜聞過齋藏玉》，香港中文大學文物館，香港，2015年，編號25

The inscription of the seal reads Huaiyang wang xi, or the Seal of Prince of Huaiyang, who occupied land around modern-day southern Henan province, however, several generations of Han princes carried this title from the early 2nd century BC to the early 1st century CE, making it impossible to identify the individual to which this seal belongs.

淮陽位於豫東黃淮平原腹地，古稱宛丘，又稱陳，今河南省周口市淮陽區一帶。根據史料記載，西漢高祖十一年劉邦翦除異姓藩王，封兒子劉友為淮陽王，在陳建淮陽國。而至西漢中期及後期，淮陽王則為劉玄和其他親族的封號，西漢末期，梁王攻陷淮陽，太守被殺後，蘇茂短暫掌管淮陽王封號。蕭王劉秀登基後，因猶懷前誼封而劉玄為淮陽王，此後史家以此相傳。淮陽王頭銜在西漢歷史中有重要意義，不僅與西漢王室和早期政治制度相關，更反映西漢中後期政治變化，顯示西漢政治演變和西漢末政局混亂的狀況。