Acquired From: Leen Helmink
Colouring: Uncoloured
Condition: Good
Confirmed: 4/10/2024
Date Acquired: 3/11/2021
Dealers ID No.: 18708
Description: Martin Behaim, a fifteenth-century merchant, mathematician, and geographer from Nuremberg, was trained in mathematics during his youth. He began his career as a merchant's apprentice, travelling extensively across Western Europe. Following a period as an apprentice weaver in Flanders, he arrived in Lisbon in the 1480s.nHis mathematical expertise earned him a position on King John IIs council of mathematicians in 1483, where he played a crucial role in testing and demonstrating navigational tools such as the cross-staff, significantly contributing to Portuguese maritime exploration. Between 1485 and 1486, Behaim accompanied Diego Cam on an exploratory voyage along the African coast. Subsequently, he settled in Fayal in the Azores, establishing a Flemish colony there and marrying locally, a detail reflected on his later maps.nIn 1490, Behaim returned to Nuremberg and was commissioned to create a terrestrial globe. This globe, known as the Erdapfel (Earth Apple), is the oldest surviving globe (link). Completed within a year, it measures about 53cm in diameter and was constructed from papier-mâché coated with gypsum. Behaim designed the globes gores, which were illustrated by the artist Georg Glockenthon. Featuring over 1,100 geographical locations, the globe synthesised Ptolemaic principles with information from sources such as Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville. It captures a view of the world as understood on the eve of the transformative Age of Exploration.nKey sections of Behaims globe were later studied in works such as Christoph Gottlieb von Murrs Diplomatische Geschichte des portugiesischen berühmten Ritters Martin Behaims (Diplomatic History of the Famous Portuguese Knight Martin Behaim), published in 1778, which included this map of the Indian Ocean and Pacific. Spanning regions from Madeira and the Grand Canary Island to China and Java Major, the map incorporates both factual and mythical elements. For instance, the Manilas are depicted alongside a note cautioning that ships containing iron cannot sail there due to extreme magnetism.
Engraver: Kelner, Joseph
First published: Diplomatische Geschichte des portugiesischen berühmten Ritters Martin Behaims: Nuremberg: Johann Eberhard Zeh, 1778
Image Size (cm): 59×40
Mapmaker: Murr Christoph Gottlieb von
Price: 1,600
Primary Category: World
Purchase Reference: Ledger 2022
Rarity: R1 Extremely rare – occasionally seen on the market
Sheet size (cm): 63.5×44.5
Technique: Copper Engraving
This state: 1778
Website: Click here
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