Catalog Archive
Auction 192, Lot 77

"America Aurea Pars Altera Mundi", Valck, Gerard and Leonard

Subject: Western Hemisphere - America

Period: 1708 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
23.5 x 19.4 inches
59.7 x 49.3 cm
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This ornamental map of the Americas depicts California as an island with a northern coastline indented by two bays on the second Sanson model. California is separated from the mainland by the island-dotted Mare Rubrum. A faint coastline of Terra Esonis stretches northwestward off the map. A large Mer Glaciale appears off Hudson Bay alluding to the possibility of a Northwest Passage. The interior is fully engraved with mountains, forests, place names and Indian tribes. The Great Lakes are formed with an enlarged Lake Michigan (Lac Illinois), and the Mississippi is fairly accurately aligned. The large title cartouche features an Amazon queen in a feather headdress, surrounded by native animals and sugar cane, receiving a kneeling subject who presents her with gold. The cartography of the map is very close to Allard's map of c. 1696 and the cartouche is nearly identical.

References: McLaughlin #176; Tooley (America) p.128, #68, plt. 53; Wagner (NW) #496.

Condition: B+

A crisp impression with full contemporary color. There are a few small cracks along the upper centerfold (in "Florida") due to oxidation of the green pigment. All areas of the map with the green/brown color have been backed on verso with archival materials to prevent further cracking. There is minor foxing and light color offsetting in a few blank areas.

Estimate: $900 - $1,100

Sold for: $650

Closed on 4/26/2023

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