Page 83 - Bonhams September 10 2018 New York Chinese Works of Art

115 Y
A RARE SILVER AND GILT-METAL HARDSTONE AND GLASS
EMBELLISHED CELESTRIAL SPHERE
19th century Provenance
Formed from two reticulated concentric cloud spheres, the positions A European Collection
of the constellations relative to their locations in the sky as viewed
from the earth embellished with cabochons of glass, opal, beryl, The celestial sphere is an imaginary sphere with an arbitrarily large
quartz and other hardstones, with the constellation names engraved radius with the earth located at its center. The poles of the celestial
on small conjoined circular plaques, the globe tilted along its axis, sphere and the equator are aligned with those of the Earth, and all
encircled by a vertically placed meridian ring engraved with lines to objects in the sky as viewed from Earth are projected on the inner
mark degrees, and an equatorial ring similarly marked, all connected surface of the celestial sphere. The celestial sphere is a practical tool
to a horizontal ring applied with characters representing the for spherical astronomy, allowing astronomers to specify the relative
‘Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches’ interspersed with ‘trigrams’, positions of bodies in the sky.
above two pairs of dragons confronted on flaming pearls, all attached
to a pillar borne on the back of a dragon-tortoise and surrounded by For related examples, see Scientific and Technical Instruments of the
four upright dragons, with enameled highlights, all supported on a Qing Dynasty, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
domed circular base patterned with swirling waves, wood stand. Museum, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 4-7, and Exhibition of Chinese
23in (58.5cm) high History, National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, 2002, p. 177.
An example was also sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 19-20 March
$40,000 - 60,000 2013, lot 339.
十九世紀 銀及鎏金銅嵌百寳天體儀

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