Get documents about "THE ANCIENT MAP
W
Description
THE ANCIENT MAP
Shared by: lindayy
-
Stats
- views:
- 46
- posted:
- 4/19/2010
- language:
- English
- pages:
- 4
Document Sample
THE ANCIENT
VERBIEST MAP
RAPPED IN SAFFRON One of the giraffe in Antarctica and the Bird of
cotton, in a box of sweet- Paradise placed on the Australian
smelling sandalwood, National Library's mainland. For Australia is shown;
lies a rare and ancient the coast, as mapped by the Dutch
treasure, one of the little
treasures is the explorers appears in the bottom right
known legendary maps from a world Verbiest map. hand corner of the Eastern
where a Boy Emperor sat on the Hemisphere map.
Dragon Throne and a knowledgeable Tina Faulk Australia is also shown on the
Jesuit priest would be coopted from lower left of the Western
his studies to cast a new kind of
recounts the story Hemisphere map, with the faint
cannon in Peking. behind this outline of islands off its eastern
The Verbiest historical map— coast—New Zealand perhaps? In
two maps, in fact—representing the remarkable keeping with the beliefs of European
eastern and western hemispheres cartographers of the time, Tasmania
respectively, each handpainted on
artefact and New Guinea are attached to
silk about six feet square and dating Australia's mainland.
back to seventeenth century China, Besporting itself in the
are named after their maker, the southern oceans is a lively sperm
Belgian Jesuit, Ferdinand Verbiest. whale—twin spouts of water jetting
Cartography had from its head—which
long been a Chinese appears above the
science, but with the billows of the waves, a
coming of the European reminder of the rich
Jesuits, that adventurous whaling grounds which
missionary order founded were once fished so
by a soldier, the Chinese relentlessly between
began to incorporate Australia and the South
western concepts of Pole. Other real or
cartography into their mythological animals
detailed knowledge of which appear include
the 'Nan Yang', the Himalayan monkeys, a
southern ocean, and the dragon, a unicorn and
islands therein. On the what looks like a plump,
Verbiest map, panels of blue-feathered dodo.
Chinese characters offer The Verbiest map
geographical information was a donation by
and even non-Chinese Sinologist William
place-names are written Hardy Wilson, an
Shinkichi Endo, the Japanese expert who restored the Verbiest map,
in Chinese characters, Australian architect and
working on the map in his Tokyo studio
whether by phonetic Photograph by NLA Photographic Services artist, who had purchased
translations or by a the map in Peking in
translation of the meaning of the Je Nieh Ya sounding somewhat like 1921, during the turbulent years of
name. New Guinea, for example, is Guinea. the fragmentation of the last Chinese
written 'Hsin Je Nieh Ya', Hsin Exotic animals and birds Imperial dynasty, the end of the
being the Chinese word for New and appear, some misplaced, like the blue Manchu Ch'ing Emperors.
SEPTEMBER 1991 7
Treasures of gold, silk and jade was continued by a succession of
from imperial and aristocratic missionary priests of the Jesuit order,
families were being traded for food; which catered to the Chinese desire
many of the antiquities of the to learn about European scientific
Forbidden Kingdom were being and geographical discoveries,
smuggled into the eager hands of particularly astronomy and
dealers by the Palace eunuchs. mapmaking.
Brought back to Australia, the In 1970, while its
fragile map was cracked and grimy, provenance was still
and the once elegant silk panels were being debated, the
peeling from their paper backing. map was sent to
With no hope of finding an expert in Tokyo for
Australia to restore the map, Hardy restoration
Wilson offered it to the National by Mr
Library in 1949, appreciating that it
was significant, but not recognising
it for the treasure it was.
Now part of what is known as
the Hardy Wilson Collection, the
map was confirmed, first by scholars
from the Australian National
University, and later by international
experts, as a rare Verbiest map;
in a box
of sweet-smelling
sandalwood, lies a
rare and ancient
treasure
perhaps the original manuscript
version—though this has not been
confirmed—on which were based a
number of woodblock copies. Of
these prints, a few black and white
sets still exist in national libraries in
China, Japan, Britain (which holds
only one hemisphere), France, the
United States and the Vatican. In the
middle of the last century, new
prints were made from the original
woodblocks in China and Korea.
The Verbiest map followed a Shinkichi
distinguished historical precedent, Endo, an
for the earliest of such Jesuit expert who had
mapmakers had been Matteo Ricci, worked for 60
the first Jesuit to enter China in years on the
1583. Ricci was later to produce restoration and
world maps which showed China in preservation of Japan's
the central position (as of course, the national treasures.
Chinese believed it to be) flanked by Mr Endo, by lifting
Europe to the west and the Americas thousands of tiny fragments of the
to the east. map's silk individually from the
The earliest remaining copy of original paper backing and
the Ricci Map dates from 1602, and remounting them on new, stiffened
the cartographic tradition in Peking silk, like a gigantic jig-saw puzzle,
8 NATIONAL Library of Australia News
was estimated to have extended the since the natural acidity of the human
map's life by about 400 years. skin may damage its ancient fragility.
The map was returned to But who was its maker, Father
Canberra in 1976, and despite some Ferdinand Verbiest? Verbiest (1623-
criticism that it had lost part of its 1688) was born near Courtrai in
original colour and detail, it Belgium. Entering the Society of
was in a stable condition, Jesus at 18, he studied theology at
its deterioration the University of Seville.
arrested. It is now
only handled by
librarians
... lifting thousands of
wearing tiny fragments of the
white
gloves, map's silk individually
from the original
paper backing
In 1658 he sailed for China, to
spend his first ten months in Shensi,
after which he was summoned to
Peking by his Superior, Adam Schaal.
Verbiest had been in Peking for three
years when anti-Christian
persecutions broke out and both
priests were imprisoned for their
missionary work. Brought to trial,
Schaal, elderly and paralysed, could
not speak in his own defence, but
Verbiest eloquently defended them
both before the Chinese judges—to
no avail. The old missionary was
condemned to death by
strangulation, while Verbiest and his
fellow priests were sentenced to be
flogged and then exiled from China.
Worse, if possible, was to follow.
The Chinese Board of Punishments
changed Schaal's method of execution
to the agonising 'ling ch'ih' where the
condemned is slowly diced apart.
On April 16, 1665, the day the
four Regents confirmed their approval
of the sentence a great earthquake hit
Peking. The Chinese, awed by the
event, released all the priests, though
one of the Regents took up the matter
of the still to be carried out execution
with the Dowager Empress herself.
The Empress, uncharacteristically,
sided with the foreigners and
indignantly crushed Schaal's
execution order.
Released from prison, but
broken in health, Schaal died soon
afterwards.
Eastern hemishere of the restored Verbiest map, with a
Under the new young Emperor
detail (inset) showing the map before restoration in 1969 K'ang Hsi, Verbiest, using his
Photographed for reproduction by NLA Photographics Chinese name, Nan Huai Jen, was
SEPTEMBER 1991 9
appointed Director of the to be put on the shoulders of his
Astronomical Board, under the Jesuit gun-maker.
protection of the Emperor. Ennobled by the Emperor,
In 1674 he made six large and appointed Chief Adviser of the
astronomical pieces from white Academy of Astronomy in Peking
brass, including a sextant, celestial in about 1671—perhaps the Map
globe and armillary spheres. And, was started at around this time, or
noticing the state of disrepair of shortly after—Verbiest, ironically,
the old cannon, he devised a small was attacked in both Spain and
field gun, which fired a shot of Italy for not sticking
about four pounds in weight. singlemindedly to missionary work
The new gun was in China. He was, however,
successfully tested eight times, to staunchly defended by Pope
the Emperor's delight, in the Innocent XI, to whom he had
Fragrant Hills. It was promptly dedicated his Chinese translation of
despatched to the Imperial Army, the Missal.
in the process of fighting a rebel In his Astronomia Europaea
movement in Shensi. So successful Verbiest wrote of his friendship
was the new gun that requests for with the Emperor K'ang Hsi: 'At
more came from all corners of the break of day I went to the Palace
Empire. Verbiest, despite the A portrait of the Chinese Emperor, K'ang Hsi, and was immediately admitted to
jealousies and hindrances of the reproduced from Ch'ing-tai ti hou hsiang, 1935 the Emperor's apartments, and
Photographed for reproduction by NLA Photographics
palace eunuchs, who resented his often did not leave until three or
influence with the Emperor, not only four after mid-day. Alone with the
managed to have 150 new guns cast, Emperor I read and expounded. Often
but he also invented a new kind of
Verbiest ... was he kept me to lunch and served
guncarriage. appointed Director exquisite meats on a plate of gold'.
Before testing the new cannon, Verbiest also introduced K'ang
Verbiest publicly blessed them, from an of the Astronomical Hsi to Western philosophy and music.
altar made of one gun, sprinkling holy He died on 26 January 1688, a year
water on each and baptising them in
Board, under the after he had been appointed Superior
the name of the saints. So precise was protection of the of all Jesuit Missions in China. His
their aim that the delighted K'ang Hsi map remains a lasting testament to his
sent his own silk jacket, embroidered Emperor considerable knowledge and skill.
with the Imperial five-clawed Dragon
The two men who first concluded that the rare Manchu dynasty map was a Verbiest original—Tom Knight,
left and Sidney Wang—examine the restored map with Gillian Martin in 1977
Photograph by NLA Photographics
10 NATIONAL Library of Australia News
