Catalog Archive
Auction 116, Lot 742

"Tartaria sive Magni Chami Imperium", Jansson, Jan

Subject: Asia - Northern

Period: 1650 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
19.5 x 15 inches
49.5 x 38.1 cm
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Fine map of Tartary and northern China illustrates the knowledge obtained by the English and Dutch explorers as far as the Ob River, with the balance of the map based on the reports of Marco Polo and the Greek classics. The deserts are filled with a wild assortment of devils and dragons, being held at bay from China by the Great Wall. Explorers flank the distance scale and the title is symbolically engraved onto the saddle blanket of a camel, representing the trade over the Silk Road. This map is nearly identical to Blaeu's map of the same title, but does not have a scale across the top. Latin text on verso.

References:

Condition: B

Fine original color with a bit of offsetting in image and some spots in margins. Few tiny tears at edges, all well away from map.

Estimate: $250 - $300

Sold for: $190

Closed on 9/20/2006

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