Tabula XI Asiae

Acquired From: Leen Helmink (Sanderus)

Colouring: Uncoloured

Condition: Excellent

Confirmed: 2/10/2024

Date Acquired: 5/9/2016

Dealers ID No.: ex Sanderus

Description: Titled Tabula XI Asiae, this map was issued in 1522 as part of Lorenz Friess reduced-format edition of Martin Waldseemüllers Geography. It derives directly from Waldseemüllers Undecima Asiae Tabula (View Record (#61)), first published in 1513 and again in 1520. In 1522, Johann Grüninger acquired the woodblocks used for Waldseemüllers maps from Johann Schott and commissioned Lorenz Fries to edit the new edition. Fries reduced and simplified the original maps while incorporating additional material intended to reflect more recent geographical knowledge, retitling Undecima Asiae Tabula as Tabula XI Asiae.nAlthough adapted to a smaller format, the map retains many defining elements of Waldseemüllers original and remains closely aligned with classical geography. Both maps depict India extra Gangem (India beyond the Ganges) and the Sinarum situs (land of the Sinae), with the Aurea Chersonesus (Golden Peninsula) forming a prominent southward-projecting landmass that crosses the equator and extends into both the Sinus Gangeticus (Gulf of the Ganges) and the Sinus Magnus (Great Gulf). This layout follows the traditional Ptolemaic view of how Asia and the surrounding seas were arranged.nAt the centre of this geography lies the Meandrus mons mountain range, which extends northward through the peninsula and anchors the surrounding river systems and settlements. Associated ranges, including Bepyruss, Damasi, and Semanthini, are arranged nearby. At the northeastern base of Meandrus mons, the city of Cirradia, noted for its cinnamon, appears alongside the Aurea regio (Golden Region) and Argentea regio (Silver Region), territories associated with precious metals.nFries also preserved Waldseemüllers insular geography in the Indian Ocean, maintaining numerous mythical and ethnographic elements inherited from earlier sources. Islands such as Bazacata, renowned for shellfish and inhabited by the perpetually naked Agmatae, as well as the Bone Fortune and Maniolae islandsbelieved to attract ships magnetically and populated by anthropophagiremain unchanged. Additional islands, including Sarussae, Sindae, Sabadicae, and the Satyrorum islands, continue to reflect medieval ethnographic traditions.nA notable innovation in Friess edition is the addition of a dramatic verso illustration depicting cynocephali (dog-headed man-eaters) dismembering a human figure. Absent from Waldseemüllers original map, this image reappears in Friess 1525 Uselegung der Mercarthen oder Carta Marina, where it is reused to represent the inhabitants of the New World.nWithin the theme ''Updating the Classical World'', this map demonstrates how classical geographic authority was preserved but edited, condensed, and cautiously adjusted rather than replaced.nFor other maps by Fries in this collection, see nos. View Record (#2), View Record (#3), View Record (#70), #89 and View Record (#359)

First published: Geographia Strasbourg: Johann Grüninger, 1522

Image Size (cm): 31.8 x 40.5

Mapmaker: Fries, Lorenz (ca. 1490-1550)

Other states: Second 1525 (Strasbourg), Third 1535 (Lyon) and Fourth 1541 (Vienne, Dauphiné)

Price: 1,100

Primary Category: Southeast Asia

Purchase Reference: Ledger 2022

Rarity: R1 Extremely rare – occasionally seen on the market

References: Karrow (1993), Lorenz Fries

Sheet size (cm): 38.2 x 54.4

Technique: Woodcut

This state: First