Thomas Child, Observatory, Bronze Astronomical Instrument, Thomas Child, 1875

Photograph of a bronze astronomical instrument at the beijing observatory, taken by thomas child (1841-1898). Date 1875. Bronze armillary in the courtyard of the peking (beijing) observatory (guanxiangtai). Caption on photograph no. 49. Bronze instrument. Observatory. Peking. Quote from nature (1889-1890) vol. 41 (volume xli) nov. 21, 1889. P. 6: mr. Thomas child, who has just returned from pekin, has sent us very beautiful photographs of the two interesting old astronomical instruments at the pekin observatory. These instruments are the most ancient of the kind in the world, having been made by order of the emperor kublai khan in the year 1279. They are exquisite pieces of bronze work, and are in splendid condition, although they have been exposed to the weather for more than 600 years. They were formerly up on the terrace, but were removed down to their present position to make way for the eight instruments that were made by the jesuit father verbiest in 1670, during the reign of the emperor k’ang hsi, of the present dynasty. Date: 1875.