Subject: Asia
Period: 1697 (circa)
Publication:
Color: Hand Color
Size:
22.6 x 19.4 inches
57.4 x 49.3 cm
Jacob von de Sandrart, a notable painter and art dealer in Nuremberg, produced a number of separately issued large maps. This is his uncommon and magnificently engraved map of Asia. It is vividly rendered with good detail throughout the south and south east reflecting the surveys of the Dutch East India Company, while northern and central Asia are more indistinct, filled mostly with mountains, deserts, and forests. The work of the Jesuit missionaries is reflected in the well-documented region of China, where the Great Wall is illustrated, but despite the sophistication of much of the mapping of China, the mythical Chiamay Lacus is still present with its five south-flowing rivers. There is no Kamchatka Peninsula, and Yedso appears to the north of Japan as a detached coastline. Korea, however, is correctly presented as a peninsula. The northern coast of Australia (Hollandia Nova) is visible at bottom right. Sailing vessels and a compass rose adorn the oceans. At bottom left is a large decorative title cartouche featuring a procession of men from different Asian cultures. The map was engraved by J.B. Homann before he set up his own map publishing business. It is one of the few maps with Homann's imprint as an engraver.
References:
Condition: B+
On watermarked paper with a couple of minor spots and two short worm tracks around the centerfold that have been professionally infilled.