Page 26 - Sotheby's London Important Chinese Art Nov. 2019

121

A RARE GILT-BRONZE SUNDIAL
QIANLONG MARK AND PERIOD, DATED
GENGZI YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1780
of semi-hemispherical form with deep rounded sides
rising to an everted rim, inscribed to each side of the
rim with Chinese solar terms, incised to the interior
with a diagonal table matrix and set with a gnomon, all
supported on three long feet formed by whisps of ruyi-
shaped clouds extending under the rim and terminating
in dragon heads, the side with an incised eight-character
inscription reading Daqing Qianlong gengzi nianzhi (‘Made
in the Gengzi year during the Qianlong period of the Great
Qing dynasty’)
Diameter 27.5 cm, 10⅞ in.
Inscribed with a cyclical date corresponding to 1780, this
sundial is a variation of the more classic type of sundial
with a stone disk and a needle placed at an angle on a
stone platform. Known as a hemispherum, this sundial tells
both the time of day and the season via the movement of
the shadow or nodus cast by the pointed gnomon. The
point of the shadow indicates the time of day, whilst the
height reached by this point, signals the time of year – the
shadow cast by the winter sun is much higher than the one
in summer.
Gilt-bronze sundials of this type are unusual. A much
smaller porcelain hemispherum, made in imitation of
lacquerware, is illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics
in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1999, vol. II, pl. 250; and
another was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th April 2013,
lot 3011.
‡ £ 50,000-70,000
HK$ 489,000-685,000 US$ 62,500-87,500
清乾隆庚子年（1780） 鎏金銅日晷
《大清乾隆庚子年製》款

Mark

24 Buyers are liable to pay both the hammer price (as estimated above) and the buyer’s premium together with any applicable taxes and Artist’s Resale Right (which will depend on the individual circumstances).
Refer to the Buying at Auction and VAT sections at the back of this catalogue for further information.