.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Important Cartography from the Niewodniczanski Collection
KEERE, Pieter van den (1571-c.1646)
[Portolan chart of Europe and North Africa]. Amsterdam: J. Janssonius, 1631.
Details
KEERE, Pieter van den (1571-c.1646)
[Portolan chart of Europe and North Africa]. Amsterdam: J. Janssonius, 1631.
The only known example of this very large and highly decorative portolan chart by Pieter van den Keere.
This west-oriented chart depicts Europe and North Africa from Cape Bojador and the Canary Islands to Iceland, southern Greenland, and the North Cape, extending eastward to the Peloponnese and the White Sea; east of Iceland is an imaginary island called 'Frislandt', which even includes geographical names and a fort.
The map is richly decorated with eight decorative compass roses, connected by the network of navigational rhumb-lines typical of portolan charts, several coats-of-arms and figurative scenes appear inland, including the fleur-de-lys for France, a double-headed eagle for the Holy Roman Empire, and three crescents for Ottoman north Africa. In Norway, there are depictions of a fur trapper on skis and a reindeer-drawn sled (these folkloric images were taken from Olaus Magnus's 1539 map of the North). In North Africa there are several working elephants being attacked by snakes and a lion hunt are depicted. The scale is given in German and Spanish miles.
The portolan is printed on four sheets of laid paper, which were joined together before printing. The slightly skewed but high-quality impression suggests it may be a proof. Traces of an earlier, seven-line publisher's address can still be seen in the cartouche.
Portolan chart (neatline: 532 x 680mm; sheet: 640 x 840mm). Engraving on four joined sheets of laid paper with engraved signature in the cartouche ‘Petrus Kaerius’, each sheet with the same unidentified watermark, the blank reverse (minor creases).
[Portolan chart of Europe and North Africa]. Amsterdam: J. Janssonius, 1631.
The only known example of this very large and highly decorative portolan chart by Pieter van den Keere.
This west-oriented chart depicts Europe and North Africa from Cape Bojador and the Canary Islands to Iceland, southern Greenland, and the North Cape, extending eastward to the Peloponnese and the White Sea; east of Iceland is an imaginary island called 'Frislandt', which even includes geographical names and a fort.
The map is richly decorated with eight decorative compass roses, connected by the network of navigational rhumb-lines typical of portolan charts, several coats-of-arms and figurative scenes appear inland, including the fleur-de-lys for France, a double-headed eagle for the Holy Roman Empire, and three crescents for Ottoman north Africa. In Norway, there are depictions of a fur trapper on skis and a reindeer-drawn sled (these folkloric images were taken from Olaus Magnus's 1539 map of the North). In North Africa there are several working elephants being attacked by snakes and a lion hunt are depicted. The scale is given in German and Spanish miles.
The portolan is printed on four sheets of laid paper, which were joined together before printing. The slightly skewed but high-quality impression suggests it may be a proof. Traces of an earlier, seven-line publisher's address can still be seen in the cartouche.
Portolan chart (neatline: 532 x 680mm; sheet: 640 x 840mm). Engraving on four joined sheets of laid paper with engraved signature in the cartouche ‘Petrus Kaerius’, each sheet with the same unidentified watermark, the blank reverse (minor creases).
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts