Catalog Archive
Auction 142, Lot 501

"Germania", Ortelius, Abraham

Subject: Central Europe, Germany

Period: 1573 (published)

Publication: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum

Color: Hand Color

Size:
19.9 x 14.3 inches
50.5 x 36.3 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

Elegant map of the German Empire, which at the time included the Netherlands and Belgium, stretching from Calais to the Wista River in present day Poland, and south to the Adriatic Sea. Ortelius based this beautiful map on Christiaan Sgrothen's map of 1565. The title is enclosed is a strapwork cartouche, below which sails a large ship, and two large cartouches incorporate the royal coat of arms and scale of miles. Dutch text on verso.

References: Van den Broecke #56.

Condition: A

Original color on watermarked paper with some damp stains in blank margins that just touch map border in corners, with some resulting areas of paper weakness confined to blank margins. There is an archivally repaired hole in bottom corner, far from map. French manuscript writing on verso opposing the Dutch text.

Estimate: $400 - $500

Sold for: $950

Closed on 11/28/2012

Archived