Accession No

5834

Brief Description

scaphe dial and compass, the earliest known ivory scaphe dial from Korea, by Kang Yun, Korean, 1862

Origin

Korea; Seoul

Maker

Kang Yun

Class

astronomy

Earliest Date

1862

Latest Date

1862

Inscription Date

Material

ivory; metal (brass, gilt, iron); glass

Dimensions

width 49mm; length 67mm; depth 26mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Christie's, Los Angeles, on 13/06/2001.

Inscription

(in Chinese) ‘upwarded-pot sundial'
(in Chinese)' 5 seconds 39 minutes 37 degrees HIGH NORTH POLE'
(in Chinese) Tongzhi yi zhoo nian (indicating the year of manufacture during the the reign of Tongzhi)

[back]
同治元年壬戊仲夏下瀚 晋山後人姜潤手製
Translation: “Handcrafted in 1862 during the last third of the fifth lunar month by a descendant of the Chinsan Kang, Kang Yun.”

Description Notes

Korean ivory scaphe dial and compass with incised black and red chinese characters.

A very rare 19th-century Korean ivory scaphe dial with compass made during the reign of the Chinese emperor Tongzhi.
The dial encircled by incised Chinese characters in black referring to the time of year - solstices, autumn begins, cold dew, hoar frost descends, and others - which are read off against the corresponding year, incised in red in the bowl of the dial, with polygonal cross-section brass pin gnomon, beneath the dial an inscription Chinese in red reading “5 Seconds 39 minutes 37 degrees HIGH NORTH POLE', the latitude of Seoul, the compass with gilt-leaf uninscribed dial, the well-modelled iron needle with brass cap beneath the glass (racked) with copper retaining ring, the upper rim labelled with hours 1-3pm, through 11-1am, to 11-1pm, and with compass directions, on either side incised Chinese characters in red, reading ‘upwarded-pot sundial' (ie. scaphe dial), the underside with two columns of incised characters reading Tongzhi yi zhoo nian (ie. indicating the year of manufacture during the reign of Tongzhi).

The inscription on the back of the dial reads: 同治元年壬戊仲夏下瀚 晋山後人姜潤手製 (translation: “Handcrafted in 1862 during the last third of the fifth lunar month by a descendant of the Chinsan Kang, Kang Yun.”)

Good condition

References

Events