Acquired From: Gowrie Galleries
Colouring: Coloured
Condition: Very Good
Confirmed: No
Dealers ID No.: M1030 variant (STK 2117.01) #45293 on verso 32860
Description: This double-hemisphere world map was first published in 1662 in the Atlas Maior. While famous for its lavish decoration, it represents a benchmark record of the known world as it stood in the mid-seventeenth century, incorporating recent Dutch voyages, particularly in the Pacific and Southern Hemisphere.nThe map includes Abel Tasmans discoveries from 16421643 and 1644, clearly labelling Tasmania as Antony van Diemens Lant, and marking coastal notations such as West Eylanden and vander Lints Eyl. It also depicts early Dutch landfalls on the Australian coast by Dirk Hartog (1616), Frederick de Houtman (1619), Jan Carstensz. (1623), Pieter Nuyts (1627), and Gerrit Frederikszoon de Witt (1628). Some errors, such as R. Stater for the Staten River, reflecting the evolving nature of geographic knowledge at the time.nClassical authority is explicitly acknowledged through the flanking figures of Claudius Ptolemy and Marinus of Tyre, each holding instruments of measurement. Allegorical figures of the seasons and planetssome derived from engravings by Antonio Tempestaframe the world in a traditional cosmological order. A celestial scene features the seven classical planets personified: Jupiter (Zeus) with eagle and lightning; Venus (Aphrodite) with Cupid; and the Sun, symbolising Christ as ruler of the cosmos. The Moon is intriguingly portrayed as Lucifer, a fallen figure with horns, echoing apocalyptic Christian imagery. Mercury, Mars, and Saturn also appear with their classical attributes. As noted by Simon Dewez, a known variant of this map (View Record (#75)) omits the ship below Australia and the three flying fish in the Atlantic, while including a ship off the east coast of AfricanWithin'' ''''Updating the Classical World,'' this map stands as a culmination of centuries of revision, in which classical geography is preserved as a framework but comprehensively redefined by accumulated observation.
Engraver: Blaeu, Joan (1596-1673)
First published: Atlas Maior, sive Cosmographia Blaviana, Vol. 1. Amsterdam: Joan Blaeu, 1662
Image Size (cm): 54×40
Mapmaker: Blaeu, Joan (1596-1673)
Notes: Purchase details
Primary Category: World
Purchase Reference: Insurance Ledger 2015
Rarity: R2 Very rare – one or two copies appear on the market
References: Simon Dewez, The Printed World II (Sydney: Gowrie Galleries, 1997), pg 7, map 37. Also Simon Dewez, The Printed World III (Sydney: Gowrie Galleries, 2000), pg 38, map 92.
Sheet size (cm): 58×46
Shirley ID #: 428 Mapping the World
Technique: Copper Engraving
This state: 1662 Variant
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