About the Cover

Front Cover—Imagine a culture where scientific theory and practice are not separate from divination and the instruments for doing both are one and the same. The Chinese believed in geomancy, or feng shui, and created sundial-enhanced compasses to enable the practice of this discipline, which, in broad terms, includes foretelling the future or discovering hidden knowledge through an awareness of geographic or natural features.

The Chinese had twenty-four different seasons, or qi, with wonderfully descriptive names, like “awakening of creatures” and “white dews,” and twelve double-hour days, described by 12 characters relating to different animals. The integration of the natural world into Chinese culture included the popularizaton and use of sundials well into the twentieth century. In our modern western world, where it’s not uncommon to turn on the weather channel rather than walk outside, pre-modern Chinese ways are as tantalizing as they are foreign.
The portable sundials and compasses shown on the cover, all part of the extensive donation made by Mary Louise and J. Bryson Moore, are a small sampling from the Museum’s Asian Horology exhibit. They represent various styles of Chinese sundials and compasses made from the late seventeenth century up into the twentieth century.

In Chinese palaces and cities, official time was measured by clepsydras; sundials may have played a role in determining the clepsydras’ seasonal scales. Other sundial-like instruments may have been used to determine the cardinal points of compasses. A magnetic needle supported by a pivot was known in China by the twelfth century. At the beginning of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), in the late seventeenth century, portable sundials were received by the Emperor and court dignitaries as gifts. Diptych dials with string gnomans, popular in Europe and particularly Germany, were made in China at this time. Another type of portable sundial, called seasonal inclining, included a 13-step scale (one for each two-week period in the year) for changing the dial’s inclination. Sundials were produced in a village called Xiu-Li in Anhui province, which was also well known for producing geomantic, or feng-shui, compasses.

Starting with the large, jeweled sundial, center bottom row: This brass seasonal-inclining portable dial has a setting-adjustable disk inserted through the sundial with various pinhole markings for setting the dial angle. The compass, surrounded by colorful rhinestones, shows the 24 Chinese direction points, and the feet are adjustable for leveling. Moving clockwise, bottom row, left: An ornamental brass sundial with a string gnoman. The sundial is divided for 5 a.m.-7 p.m. on an enameled strip and set on three leveling feet each topped with a red glass sphere. A hinged gnomon support is pierced and open to hold a (missing) plumb bob. A bubble level spans the horseshoe-shaped dial. The compass is inset and marked for four directions. Top row, far left: A seasonal-inclining dial with a brass gnoman that folds flat. The inset compass shows eight compass points and 24 direction names. The dial displays 12 hour characters, with subdivisions for the hours and minutes. Top row, center left: A 24-direction compass, with the four cardinal points in black on white, in a wooden box with lid. Chinese compass needles were reddened on the south end. Top row, center right: A geomantic, or feng-shui, compass with three concentric rings. The inner ring contains eight trigrams, which originated from the Book of Changes; the second ring has eight sets of dots, expressing numbers called nine houses and related to the trigrams, the third ring displays the 24 Chinese directions. Top row, far right: A diptych sundial, consisting of two leaves that fold together and a red string gnoman. The sundial is divided 5 a.m.-7 p.m. into named two-hour segments. The horizontal dial is also divided 5 a.m.-7 p.m. and further subdivided to the quarter-hour. The inset compass includes a marked meridian line. Bottom row, far right: This string gnomon brass sundial with inset compass also has three leveling feet and a hinged gnomon support, pierced and with an opening for a leveling plumb bob.

Sources used here include: Sundials at Greenwich and Sundials: An Illustrated History of Portable Dials, both by Hester Higton and available in our Library; the latter is available for purchase.

Photography by Roger Huegel
Diana Burnett, Editor