Art

An elegantly engraved map of the region with the eastern part of China (bounded in the north-west by the Great Wall) dominated by several large lakes. The fictitious Chaimay Lacus is shown with numerous rivers flowing south into India and Siam. Korea is depicted as a strangely shaped island separated from the mainland by a narrow strait. Taiwan is located in a roughly correct position, named as both Pakan al I. Formosa and Tayoan. Korea, however, is still an island, and Japan consists only of three islands. The map is richly embellished with European sailing ships and Chinese sampans, a decorative distance scale, and a title cartouche flanked by a Chinese man and woman. Based on Jesuit surveys, the map represents the next major revision in the cartography of China after Ortelius' 1584 map. Published in the Nouvel Atlas. Copper engraving. Original colour. Fine condition, map has a small stain.