Catalog Archive
Auction 170, Lot 646

"Xantung, Sinarum Imperii Provincia Quarta", Blaeu, Johannes

Subject: Northeastern China & Korea

Period: 1655 (circa)

Publication: Novus Atlas Sinensis

Color: Hand Color

Size:
19 x 15.6 inches
48.3 x 39.6 cm
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This map is centered on the Bohai Sea, and the Shandong and Liaoning Provinces. It provides excellent detail of the small villages and towns, forts, mountains, marshes and the Great Wall. At right is the Corea Peninsula that contains a legend for cities and villages, forts, rivers, mountains, etc. Ornate title cartouche with local figures that incorporates two distance scales. Blank verso.

The second landmark in the European mapping of China was the appearance of the Novus Atlas Sinensis in 1655. It was compiled by Father Martino Martini, an Italian Jesuit and produced by the most prominent Dutch cartographer of the time, Johannes Blaeu. Father Martini compiled the work based on Chinese sources between 1643 and 1650, and it greatly advanced European knowledge of the region including the astronomical positions of many cities and topographical features. It remained the standard geographical work on that country until the publication in 1737 of D'Anville's Atlas de la Chine.

References: Van der Krogt (Vol. II) #8424:2.

Condition: B

Full contemporary color with color offsetting, toning, and some short edge tears that are well away from the image. There are centerfold separations in the bottom blank margin and at top entering 3" into the image that have been closed on verso with archival tape.

Estimate: $475 - $600

Unsold

Closed on 11/14/2018

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