“Seven Diagrams” and “puzzle map”

[The Seven Diagrams]

The Seven Diagrams, clear, 2.8 cm high, 15 cm long and 8.3 cm wide
The “Seven Diagrams” is a traditional toy in the Qing Dynasty palace. According to the records of Lu Yitian in the Qing Dynasty in the “Cold Lu Miscellaneous Knowledge”, the “Seven Diagrams” has an origin relationship with the figure of Yan Ji in the Song Dynasty and the figure of butterfly Ji in the Ming Dynasty. The Yanji is a table-like furniture. The Yanji picture is a table atlas with various forms and different widths, which is formed by the arbitrary combination of two long tables, two medium tables and three short tables. The dish table diagram is also a similar map. Through the arbitrary combination of 6 kinds of 13 “dish tables” of triangle and trapezoid, they are aggregated into the shape of butterfly wings, and can be split to combine more graphics. These table games are both practical and interesting. Some scholars and scholars in the Qing Dynasty were enthusiastic about this. According to the principle that geometric figures can be arbitrarily combined, the table that is inconvenient to move was reduced to a movable board between square inches, and the “Seven Diagrams” was produced. On this basis, the puzzle was designed by Tong Yegeng in the first year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1862). It was composed of 15 different boards., The arrangement and combination of the Eight Diagrams principle can make the picture more abundant


木制七巧图