Catalog Archive
Auction 128, Lot 772

"Paradisi Terrestris vera et Sacris Literis Conformis Exhibitio Geographica", Scherer, Heinrich

Subject: Middle East

Period: 1710 (circa)

Publication: Novus Atlas

Color: Hand Color

Size:
13.7 x 8.8 inches
34.8 x 22.4 cm
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This is a very decorative and interesting map of the Middle East covering the biblical regions from the Black and Caspian Seas through most of the Arabian Peninsula. The map concentrates primarily on the geographical features with only a few important place names. Paradisus is located on the Euphrates River. A variety of wild animals (including a unicorn) and sea monsters fill the map. At sides are scenes of Eve offering the apple to Adam and the expulsion from the garden. Heinrich Scherer was a devout Jesuit and many of the maps and plates in his atlas emphasize the Catholic hierarchy and the spread of Jesuit missions throughout the world.

References:

Condition: A

A worm track in the bottom margin has been professionally infilled with expert facsimile of a tiny bit of the neatline.

Estimate: $600 - $700

Sold for: $400

Closed on 5/20/2009

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