Catalog Archive
Auction 97, Lot 429

"Het Koninkryk Japan, verdeelt in Acht en Zestig Provintien in alle Naauwkeurigheid en Zorgvuldigheid Beschreven en uytgegeven volgens de Oorspronkelyke Japansche Kaarten, als mede volgens den Aanmerkingen van den Heer Kaemfer", Kaempfer/Scheuchzer

Subject: Japan

Period: 1728 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
20.5 x 16.8 inches
52.1 x 42.7 cm
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This superb map was prepared by Johann Caspar Scheuchzer from the maps brought back from Japan by Engelbert Kaempfer, and published in a Dutch edition of Kaempfer's "History of Japan." The map presents a radically different view from the preceding cartography of Japan with its northerly oriented Tohoku and overall squat shape. The empire is divided into 68 provinces, each named in Roman and Japanese characters. Two insets provide different versions of northern Japan and its relationship with the Asian continent. Scheuchzer selected the map's decorative elements from Kaempfer's manuscript including a Japanese compass and three gods of fortune. This is not the more common Ottens issue.

References: Walter #76-77.

Condition: A

Minor damp stain in margins, just touching bottom border with expert paper restoration of corner.

Estimate: $2,200 - $2,400

Sold for: $2,100

Closed on 12/5/2001

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