南怀仁的浑天仪:中国传统浑天仪象形制下的欧洲仪器

The Armillary Sphere of Ferdinand Verbiest:A European Instrument under the Pictographic System of Traditional Chinese Armillary Sphere

1668年底,康熙对南怀仁在天文测验中所使用的一件仪器产生兴趣,将之留用,后又于1669年4月命南怀仁等人以白银为材料制作一架新仪。经考证得知,这件银制新仪即故宫现存藏品“银镀金南怀仁款浑天仪”,被南怀仁于1669年6月9日进呈御览。南怀仁浑天仪所蕴含的宇宙理论、基本环圈结构、日轮和月轮的演示方式,是对一种通行于16世纪欧洲的测算演示用地心环形天球仪(armillary sphere)的延续。这类仪器最早随利玛窦进入中国,其相关内容和图像出现在利玛窦早期手稿和世界地图之中。同时,通过去掉四个赤道平行圈,巧妙融合“天圆地方”与表里三重结构设计,南怀仁浑天仪与中国传统浑天仪象在形貌上达到了最大程度的贴近。然而,其所装置的地球模型和黄极通轴等细节,又显露出这件“浑天仪”不能被忽视的欧洲基因。

At the end of 1668,Kangxi became interested in an armillary sphere used by Ferdinand Verbiest in astronomical tests.After accepting it in use,he ordered Verbiest and others to make a new silver one in April 1669.This new instrument made of silver is the“Gilt-silver armillary sphere with the mark Ferdinand Verbiest”,which is now in the collection of the Forbidden City(the Palace Museum).It was presented to the Imperial Court on June 9,1669.The cosmological theory,basic circle structure,and the way in which the solar and lunar wheels are operated suggest that this instrument is a continuation of a generic form of the geocentric armillary sphere that was used in Europe in the 16th century for demonstrations and calculations.Such instruments were first brought to China with Matteo Ricci,and their related descriptions and images appeared in his early manuscripts and world maps.At the same time,by removing the four equatorial parallel circles and subtly blending the“round Heaven and square Earth”as well as the“three-tiered structure”,Verbiest’s armillary sphere was closest among its kind to the traditional Chinese armillary sphere image in appearance.However,details such as the installed earth model and ecliptic pole axis reveal the European genes of this“armillary sphere”that cannot be ignored.