Catalog Archive
Auction 129, Lot 770

"Iedo", Montanus, Arnoldus

Subject: Tokyo, Japan

Period: 1680 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
30.5 x 10.5 inches
77.5 x 26.7 cm
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This panoramic view of Tokyo is one the earliest European views of the city. The city stretches across the horizon with 62 important buildings noted in the key. Illustrations of a Japanese wedding procession fill the foreground with the bride's carriage approaching from the left and the groom's retinue at right. The view was first published in Amsterdam in 1669 in Montanus’ chronicle of an early Dutch embassy to Japan. This is the French edition, published by Cornelius de Bruyn, with the addition of a French key. Printed on two joined sheets, as issued.

References:

Condition: B

There is some paper restoration in margins and at top of the engraving with a bit of the neatline in facsimile.

Estimate: $350 - $450

Sold for: $250

Closed on 9/23/2009

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