185. Jansson, Jan: China Veteribus Sinarum Regio nunc Incolis Tame dicta

Amsterdam, 1636.
Decorative, copper-engraved map of China, Japan, Korea, and the northern part of the Philippines. A slightly reduced version of Willem Janszoon Blaeu’s 1634 work of the same title. The map contains several cartographic mistakes, such as the Korean Peninsula shown as an island, the Japanese island of Hokkaido completely missing, and an imaginary lake (called „Chiamay Lacus”) placed in India. Much of the information about China is from Luis Jorge de Barbuda, and is already depicted on the Ortelius sheets. The finely crafted frame decoration of the title field has a Chinese figure on both sides, while the other cartouche contains the linear scale, above it an elegant armillary sphere, and below it the name of the publisher. The map field is illustrated by the engraver with European galleons and junks/champagnes, and the Great Wall of China can be seen to the northwest. Our copy is a rare, early print with blank verso, sold as a separate sheet or as part of a composite atlas.
Dimensions: 410 x 500 (415 x 520) mm. Clear, strong print, cropped to the frame line of the map field at the right side of the upper edge of the sheet.
van der Krogt II: 8410:1B.; Koeman II.: Me 452.; Suárez: 201. old.
 
Starting price: 160 000,-