Catalog Archive
Auction 124, Lot 61

"America Aurea Pars Altera Mundi", Valck, Gerard and Leonard

Subject: Western Hemisphere

Period: 1708 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
23.5 x 19.3 inches
59.7 x 49 cm
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This ornamental map of the Americas depicts California as an island with a northern coastline indented by two bays on the second Sanson model. California is separated from the mainland by the island-dotted Mare Rubrum. A faint coastline of Terra Esonis stretches northwestward off the map. The interior is fully engraved with mountains, forests, place names and Indian tribes. The Great Lakes are formed with an enlarged Lake Michigan (Lac Illinois), and the Mississippi is fairly accurately aligned. The large title cartouche features an Amazon queen in a feather headdress, surrounded by native animals and sugar cane, receiving a kneeling subject who presents her with gold. The cartography of the map is very close to Allard's map of c. 1696 and the cartouche is nearly identical.

References: McLaughlin #176; Tooley (Amer) p.128, #68, plt. 53; Wagner (NW) #496.

Condition: A

Stunning original color on a sound sheet. There is a bit of printer's ink residue in the plate and a few minor spots. Professional repair on bottom fold separation.

Estimate: $2,100 - $2,500

Sold for: $1,600

Closed on 5/7/2008

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