Cart
0
China Veteribus Sinarum Regio nunc Incolis
Amsterdam
1634-[1642-43]
Size :
45,6 x 59,5 cm
Color :
Hand Colored
Condition :
A
Technique :
Copper engraving
Reference : 702-02
€1,200.00
Description
Beautiful example of Blaeu's very decorative map of China.
The map extends from the Siam region and a part of Tartary in the west till Japan in East and stretches south till northern Philippines. It includes Korea represented as an island. A feature that isn't surprising at the time the map was published, since map makers such as Bleau based developed their maps based on the accounts of Jesuits who didn't settle in Korea at the time. Therefore, Jesuit accounts contained vague impressions about Korea from Japanese and Chinese sources. The map's embellishment is reserved to two elegant cartouches and sailing ships that spread across the waters. A large title cartouche decorates the top right corner. It is illustrated by a man and a woman in Chinese costume. It includes another cartouche decorated with a coat of arms in which Willem and Joan Blaeu dedicate this map to Theodorus Bas.
This map first appeared in Blaeu's German edition Theatrum Orbis Terarrum published in 1635, it later appeared in Latin, French, and Dutch editions. The present example is from the the Dutch edition Toonneel des Aerdrycks published between 1642 and 1643.
Van der Krogt, II, [8410:2A]
BLAEU, Joan
Joan Blaeu (1596-1672) or Johannes Blaeu, was a Dutch cartographer and publisher son of the official cartographer of the Dutch East India Company.
Joan began publishing the Spanish Nuevo Atlas in 1659. Soon after, the name was changed to Atlas Mayor. His famous atlas, which should have contained 12 or 13 volumes for this Spanish edition, was never completed (only 10 volumes), as his printing house was destroyed by fire. Theatrum orbis Terrarum and Atlas Maior are his major works, published in different languages (Latin, French, Dutch, German and Spanish) and editions from 1635 to 1672 (until 1680 for the separate volume editions). His father, Willem Jansz. Blaeu, had gone to Denmark in 1595 to study astronomy with Tycho Brahe. The Blaeu family, with Willem, Joan and his brother Cornelis, is the best known family of cartographers and publishers of the 17th century.