Catalog Archive
Auction 170, Lot 543

Olearius' Important Plan of Moscow

"Moscva des Grossen Zaars, Residents Stadt in Russlandt", Olearius, Adam

Subject: Moscow, Russia

Period: 1647 (published)

Publication: Beschreibung der Muscowitischen und Persischen Reise

Color: Hand Color

Size:
15.6 x 11.2 inches
39.6 x 28.4 cm
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Adam Olearius was a participant in the German embassy to Moscow and Persia in 1633. He traveled extensively in Russia and his account of the expedition is one of the most important early accounts of European travels in Russia. His bird's-eye plan shows the city situated at the junction of the Moskva and Neglinnaya Rivers, which form a moat protecting all but the northeast flank of the Kremlin. The map shows the Kremlin and old city, Kitay-gorod, at center. These are surrounded by successive rings of fortifications in an elegant and superbly well-protected metropolis. The plan is ornamented with a fine title cartouche, a coat of arms, and an extensive key to the numbered features, quarters and buildings.

References:

Condition: B+

A dark impression on paper with a coat of arms watermark, light printer's ink residue, and minor soiling. There are professional repairs to a short centerfold separation at bottom and a chip confined to the bottom blank margin.

Estimate: $1,800 - $2,200

Sold for: $1,200

Closed on 11/14/2018

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