3-056-812 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Johann Adam Von Schall, 1672. Portrait of Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German Jesuit missionary, astronomer and instrument-maker, standing in front of a bookshelf. His left hand rests on an opened book, while he holds a quill pen in his right hand. After studying philosophy and theology at the Society of Jesus he went as a missionary to China. He was the first European to become a member of the Chinese court in Peking, and became head of the Office of Astronomy. From "Historica Relatio de ortu et progressu Fidei Ortho". A. Hanckwitz: Ratisbon, 1672.