A Chinese compass consisting of a wide thin disk of wood with a dry-needle compass at the centre. A line in the bowl indicates the north-south direction. Surrounding the bowl are 12 concentric rings, each divided into segments and marked with either symbols or Chinese characters. The first row is divided into eight segments, each with one of the eight trigrams. The trigrams on this particular compass are arranged in the everted form of the Fu Hsi, which is one formulation of the eight trigrams. It has been argued that the everted form of the Fu Hsi trigram circle appeared on compasses used for Feng Shui, which would identify this compass as a geomancer's compass. The second row contains constellations. The fourth row is segmented into 24 parts indicating the traditional azimuthal directions. Each segment contains one Chinese character, which together consist of the 20 cyclical characters and four gua (trigrams). These characters are arranged in the Zheng Zhen (lit. 'correct needle') position (i.e. the north-south direction). Beginning with the character in the South position and moving clockwise the characters are: Wu, Ding, Wei, Kun, Shen, Geng, You, Xin, Xu, Qian, Hai, Ren, Zi, Gui, Chou, Gen, Yin, Jia, Mao, Yi, Chen, Xun, Si and Bing. Although the characters do refer to directions, those in the North, South, East and West directions are not the characters or the literal translations for these directions, but are the traditional characters from the geomancer's compass. Wu, Kun, Shen, Xu, Qian, Ren, Zi, Gui, Yin, Jia, Yi, and Chen are red and all other characters are painted black. The red and black characters in this row represent the pure ying and pure yang. This row is found on all Chinese geomantic compasses.

Chinese characters painted on the back of the compass read, 'Xin An Xiu Yi Fang Xiu Shui'. Xin'an was the alternative name of Huizhou Prefecture in Anhui Province during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Xiu Yi means Xiu County, i.e. Xiuning County. Fang Xiushui was the name of a popular maker of sundials and compasses from Anhui Province during the late 19th century. It is unclear whether this compass was actually made by Fang Xiushui or if the name was used because of its association with compasses.

The 48 Chinese characters painted in the first six rows of squares on the back of the compass are a ryhme concerning geomantic observations. The last two lines of this inscription read, 'You Ming / Yun Jian Jiang Da Hong Xian Sheng Jue', which translates as, 'The inscription on the right / Rhyme by Mr. Jiang Dahong of Yunjian'. The meaning of Yunjian is unclear. Jiang Dahong (1616-1714) was a renowned poet and geomancer active in the late Ming (1368-1644) and early Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Jiang was an expert geomancer who made high-quality compasses and published several books on the subject. Many compass makers used his name as their signature, so it is unlikely that this compass was actually made by him. The use of this inscription and the name of Fang Xiushui suggests that the maker of this particular compass was not one of those two people but was using their names to market his product.