Brief introduction of gold-inlaid pearl celestial sphere cultural relics

Year: Qianlong period of Qing dynasty (1711-1799).

Now in possession: Beijing Palace Museum.

The Forbidden City in Beijing is the place where emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties in China lived, and it is also a world-famous ancient art hall and treasure house in China. Starting today, we will walk into the Treasure Hall of the Palace Museum and enjoy the wonders of China's palace treasures together.

The Palace Museum is located in the north of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. According to statistics, the Palace Museum in Beijing has more than 1052600 cultural relics, accounting for one sixth of the total number of cultural relics in China. It is the museum with the richest collection of cultural relics in China, and it is also a world-famous temple of ancient culture and art, and many cultural relics are priceless.

Located in the east of the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Treasure Hall covers an area of about 220 square meters and exhibits more than 440 cultural relics. Many of them are rare treasures, including the emperor's seal, the queen's rockhopper, exquisite jade articles and fans used by Emperor Qianlong-all of which are dazzling.

In the showcase on one side of the exhibition hall, there is a rare treasure of Qianlong period-a gold-inlaid pearl celestial globe.

In ancient China, gold has always been a luxury only enjoyed by royalty and nobility, and it is also a symbol of wealth and power. The gold-inlaid pearl celestial globe exhibited in the Treasure Museum was made of pure gold by order of Emperor Qianlong. 82 cm high, exquisite workmanship, extremely luxurious.

The ancients in China made this instrument a long time ago, with which we can intuitively understand the mutual position and movement law of the sun, the moon and the stars.

According to the records of "Examination of Images" during the Qianlong period, the celestial globe has 3 walls, 28 huts, 300 constellations and 3,242 stars. Using the method of red gold, pearls of different sizes are set on the sphere as stars, and the names of constellations are engraved. Proper proportion and accurate location reflect China's superb astronomical science and technology level in Qing Dynasty.