利玛窦在南昌期间制作的日晷

The Drawing of the Sundial Made by Matteo Ricci in Nanchang

在东西方不同的文明中,日晷的类型也是不同的。16世纪末,意大利传教士利玛窦(Matteo Ricci)首次将欧洲式日晷传入中国。1595年6月至1598年6月,利玛窦一直在南昌生活。期间,他制作了许多日晷,作为礼物赠送给当地的名流显宦,其中包括南昌知府王佐。不过,利玛窦在南昌制作的日晷并没有保存下来。幸运的是,利玛窦的朋友章潢在其著作中保存了一幅利玛窦的日晷图,这就是《图书编》中的"画因北极之度以定日晷图"。这是现存最早的利玛窦所制日晷图,也是中国现存最早的欧洲式日晷图。此外,章潢《图书编》中的《昊天浑元图》,实际上是罗萨利(Girolamo Rucselli)著作中的《世界地图》摹本。

Sundial is an ancient device telling the time of a day,and the types of sundial are different in East and West. The first one who introduced the European sundial into China was Italian missionary Matteo Ricci. From 1595 to 1598,Matteo Ricci made many sundials in Nanchang as gifts to senior officials and famous scholars. A drawing of the sundial made by Matteo Ricci was kept in Tushu Bian compiled by the scholar living in that period named Zhang Huang( 1527-1608). It was not only the earliest extant image of the sundial made by Matteo Ricci,but also the earliest extant image of European sundial in China.