A rare copper and brass celestial globe, by Deng Fusheng and Li Yongcheng Qing Dynasty, Daoguang Period, dated 1830

the globe comprised of two copper hemispheres, joined at the equator and engraved with over 1500 stars, each depicted as a dot or circled dot, equating to their size and joined by engraved lines to form over fifty Chinese constellations that are each inscribed with their names, set within meridian and equatorial brass rings, the former engraved with scales in degrees and numbered in characters at every tenth point, the globe rotates on a central brass axis every twenty-four hours by a four pillar chain fusée movement mounted within the globe, the movement with verge escapement , six armed balance and flat hairspring, signed and dated 1830 at the South Polar elliptic

Chayette, Paris 24th November 1980, lot 154.

John Combridge, 'The Clock-driven Celestial Globes of Qi Mei-lu and Others',  Antiquarian Horology, Winter, 1987, figs. 3,4,10.

Please note that the accompanying stand, the 'horizontal ring' has been found. The successful bidder can purchase the stand separately. ____________________________________________________________________ The globe is in working condition and revolves slowly after being wound. It however is missing what is called the 'horizontal ring' which is essential for making the globe complete. It is not just part of the stand but, according to Combridge, is 'engraved with circular scales of 360 Western degrees of azimuth, with longer graduations of fifteen-degree intervals in an inner circle, and alternate five and ten-degree intervals in an outer circle which has Chinese characters for the twenty-four principal azimuth directions engraved in the ten-degree intervals'. The globe is accompanied by a wooden stand.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

He who exercises government by means of his virtue,
may be compared to the North Polar star,
which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.

Confucius (551-497 BC)
Lunyu (Analects) 

 

The Clock-Driven Celestial Globe
By
Hajni Elias

The inscription on the celestial globe reads and can be translated as follows:
Gengyin zhongqiu  Xiuning Deng Fusheng Jinling  Li Yongcheng tong zao.
Made jointly by Deng Fusheng of Xiuning and Li Yongcheng of Jinling in the mid-autumn of the gengyin year (equivalent to 1830).

The present celestial globe, with an interior clockwork, is one of six recorded mechanical globes of this type made in China during the reign of the Daoguang emperor (1821-1850). It is dated to 1830 and records the two makers' names as Deng Fusheng from Xiuning, Anhui province, and Li Yongcheng from Jinling, present-day Nanjing in Jiangsu province. The movement of the clockwork was also made in China and is a close copy of contemporary European mechanism. John Combridge in 'The Clock-driven Celestial Globes of Qi Mei-lu and Others', Antiquarian Horology, Winter, 1987, discusses this globe with the five other clock-driven celestial globes from the same period, three signed by the maker Qi Meilu of Wuyuan, Anhui province, and two unsigned examples. According to Combridge, ibid., p.166, Qi Meilu was a noted provincial official whose family and given names were Qi Yanhui, and who besides his official duties was also the proprietor of a horological workshop.

One globe, signed by Qi Meilu and dated to 1828, originally acquired by H.L. Nelthropp in 1890, is now in the Clockmakers' Museum at the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, London. The second Qi Meilu globe, made in 1830, was sold at Sotheby's New York, 14^th June 1982, lot 210, and is now in a private collection. The third closely related clock-driven globe, also dated to 1830 and signed by Qi, is illustrated in Shi Shuqing,'Qi Yanhui suo zhi de tianwen zhong (On the Astronomical clock made by Qi Yanhui), Wenwu, 1958, no. 7, pp. 24 and 37-38. This globe was originally in the Anhui Provincial Museum, but was on loan at the National History Museum, Beijing, in 1982. Two unsigned examples of related clock-driven construction are known; one in the Adler Planetarium, Chicago, inventory no. A-41; and one, which survives only as a dismounted copper shell with star-map engravings, pivot holes, and a winding hole, was acquired by the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh in 1984, inventory no. RSM TY 1984.102.  

Celestial globes help determine the time in which the celestial bodies rise and set; as well as the altitude and azimuth of the bodies at any given time. They show the position of stars like a star map and the actual sky in a specific time of the day. The stars and constellations recorded on the surface of the globe project their location within the celestial sphere. Chinese celestial globes differ somewhat from their Western counterparts as they display clusters of stars as recorded by Chinese star maps. Combridge, ibid., p. 168, notes that the star-map engraved on this globe is based on Xu Chaozhun's astronomical and horological encyclopaedia Gaohou mengqiu (Important Information on the Universe) published in 1807. Xu's encyclopaedia not only describes the construction of terrestrial and celestial globes, it also includes sets of twenty-four half-gores depicting their surface markings, and furthermore, lists the names and relative positions of over 350 celestial features depicted in the gores. Xu's star-map includes over 50 individually named stars, 300 named star-groups of which the number of component stars amount to a total of nearly 1500 stars. For further reading on Xu's star-map see ibid., p. 167. The clock-mechanism inside the globe is designed to rotate at near to sidereal rate, and to keep a constant relationship to the real heaven above. Furthermore, 'the position of constellations in the sky can then readily be found from the positions of their plots on the globe, and timekeeping checked by observing the culminations of known stars. To effect rotation at near to sidereal rate by clock movements designated to be regulated to solar rate, the present globe is equipped with globe-drive gear-rings which have 359 well-formed internal teeth.' (ibid., p. 172)

According to historical records the first Chinese celestial globe was made by Geng Shouchang between 70BC and 50BC. Although no early globes have survived, from records it is known that Ming period globes which included the 28 mansions, the celestial equator and the ecliptic became the precursors of the Qing examples. One of the earliest Qing period celestial globes, called tian tiyi or the Miriam Celestial Bodies, was made by Flemish Jesuit missionary Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688) in 1673, and can be found in the Ancient Observatory in Beijing. Unlike earlier celestial globes, Verbiests' globe employs 360 degrees rather than the ancient Chinese standard of 365.24 degrees. It is also the first Chinese globe which shows constellations near to the Celestial South Pole.

Star maps and star charts traditionally held an important role in intellectual, political and religious life in China. A Tang period star map, in the British Library, London, included in Stephen Little, Taoism and the Arts of China, Chicago, 2000, pl. 18, is one of the earliest known depiction of the entire night sky as seen from the Northern hemisphere. This star map, known as the Stein scroll, is a rare example of surviving astronomical diagrams from Dunhuang, acquired by Sir Aurel Stein at the Buddhist cave-temple site in 1907. In China stars were believed to have an impact on human fate and constellations shown on such maps represented gods in the pantheon. Of the circumpolar asterisms the Northern Dipper was perceived as the most important amongst the enormous celestial chronogram. Constellations depicted as series of dots joined together by lines was already practiced in China during the second century B.C. and as Little notes ibid., p. 143, 'in the Stein scroll, constellations are not only shown in this manner, but are also distinguished by their different colors (red, black and white), corresponding to star groups catalogues by the Warring States period astronomer Shi Shen, Gan De and Wu Xian'. By the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), Chinese astronomers developed the most advanced celestial map in the world. A Song dynasty ink rubbing, taken of a stele at the Confucian temple in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, included ibid., pl. 19, shows a star chart completed in 1193 by Huang Shang, a tutor to Prince Jia, the future Southern Song emperor Ningzong. The chart includes 1436 stars, the celestial equator and the ecliptic to show the path of the sun in the sky during the course of the earth's annual rotation. The study of star movements and the control of the calendar were fundamental to all rulers, including the Qing, not only from a scientific perspective but more importantly for the political control of the nation's vast population. The North Star represented the Emperor while the various constellations signified different government offices and departments.  

Chinese celestial globes, whether mechanical or not, were closely modelled on the design of Verbiest's globe which is illustrated in the Huangchao liqi tushi (Illustrated Regulations for Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Qing Dynasty), vol. III, folio I, and also published in Joseph Needham and Wang Ling, Science and Civilization in China. Vol. 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth, Cambridge 1959, pl. XII, fig. 49. Verbiest's globe was part of the observatory built under his supervision for the Kangxi emperor in Beijing in 1669, which included a range of astrological instruments such as an ecliptic armillary sphere, an equatorial armillary sphere, a horizon circle and azimuth, a quadrant and a sextant. For his service to the Qing Court, Verbiest was appointed Director of the Imperial Bureau of Astronomy, becoming a friend and advisor to the Emperor. Other Western astronomical instruments were brought to the Court, as documented in a contemporary account by E. Budgell, Memoirs of the Life and Character of the late Earl of Orrery, and the Family of the Boyles, London, 1732, who writes of an orrery having been presented to the Emperor of China and that it was highly liked and approved of by that great prince, and his mandarins.

Kangxi's grandson, the Qianlong Emperor, continued to rely on the Jesuits expertise as clockmakers, engineers, mathematicians, and astronomers in the building of the European palaces of the Yuanmingyuan. In 1793 Lord McCartney's embassy to the Chinese Court included an astronomical instrument called the Weltsmachine built by P.M. Hahn. The elaborate structure is described and illustrated in Henry King, Geared to the Stars, Toronto, 1978, pp. 237-238, and apparently included a large celestial globe, as identified in a drawing of the period by C. F. Shoenhardt.

For further examples of celestial globes see one with the constellations embellished with thousands of small white pearls and the stand made in cloisonné enamel illustrated in Life in the Forbidden City, Beijing, 1985, pl. 221, of the Qianlong period; a copper and enamel decorated globe, similarly attributed to the Qianlong period, acquired in China in 1947 by Colonel James R. Luper of the American Air Force and offered in our New York rooms, 1^st June 1994, lot 455; and a gilt-copper globe, from the Qing Court collection and attributed to the Palace Workshop, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Scientific and Technical Instruments of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 1998, pl. 2, of the late Qing period.