Catalog Archive
Auction 138, Lot 766

"Plan de la Ville et du Port de Macao", Bellin, Jacques Nicolas

Subject: Macao, China

Period: 1749 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
6.5 x 8 inches
16.5 x 20.3 cm
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Copper engraved plan of city and harbor of Macao, an important Portuguese trading post and center of activity for Catholic missionaries. The city is shown as several blocks of buildings with the fort adjacent and located at the top of a hill. Also locates the cannon battery labeled St. Jacques et St. Philippe, the Chinese village, a Pagoda, the Jesuit monastery on Green Island (I.Verte), and the military battery across the harbor. Macao was earlier an island connected to the mainland by a narrow sand bar that eventually filled in, converting Macao to a peninsula as shown here. Macao was administered by Portugal for 442 years until 1999 and today enjoys a semi-autonomous relationship with China, similar to Hong Kong.

References:

Condition: B+

One small spot in blank area of map image and marginal soiling.

Estimate: $190 - $220

Sold for: $110

Closed on 12/7/2011

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