1630 / 1635 Blaeu Map of Asia: An Original Color Example

This is a lovely, original-color example of Willem Blaeu's atlas map of Asia. It is one of the most desirable maps of the Dutch Golden Age of mapmaking. It represents a sharp improvement on the maps of Ortelius, Mercator and Hondius, reflecting the strides that the Dutch had made in understanding the geography of the East beginning at the end of the 16th century. The southern coast shows the benefit of the Dutch East India Company's forays to the Spice Islands; the north and east parts of Asia would remain obscure until the latter part of the century.

The Map

Blaeu's map is essentially a reduced version of his own 1608 wall map of the continent, which would provide the standard for virtually all mapping of Asia until the last quarter of the 17th century. Blaeu's atlas map here, first engraved in 1617, is particularly prized for its clarity and sharpness, presenting copious detail (and its many decorative features) without sacrificing legibility. The coastline, in particular, is rich in toponomy and the overall shape of the continent is remarkably accurate. Points within the continent, nonetheless, reveal the European ignorance of Asia's interior that would maintain into the second half of the century. For example, the Caspian Sea is presented here spanning further east-to-west than the actual north-to-south, an error typical of the 16th century maps of the continent. Japan and Korea are shown after the Portuguese model first published in the 1580s by Ortelius - with Hokkaido nowhere to be seen, and with Korea as a slender island.

The Cities

Along the top border of the map are nine medallions containing views of Asian cities of importance. The Sri Lankan entrepot of Candy and the southwestern Indian ports of Calicut and Goa; Damascus and Jerusalem in the Levant; the Arabian port of Aden; Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and the spice ports of Bantam and Macao are depicted here. These emphasize not only the religious focus of the near East, but also the key trade cities that were fueling the Dutch ascendency that both created maps like this, as well as the demand for them. Blaeu's source for these views was the Braun and Hogenberg Civitates Orbis Terrarum, the first printed 'city atlas' or collection of city plans and views from all over the explored world.

Cartes à Figures

During the Dutch Golden Age of mapmaking in the first half of the 17th century, maps' decorative elements reached a height that would be alluded to but seldom matched in later periods of cartography. 'Cartes à Figures,' that is to say maps with human figures in decorative borders, were at the pinnacle of Dutch decorative cartography. These decorations were not without purpose. Atlas maps of the day were not meant to guide the prospective traveler, but were intended to inform the literate layperson what the rest of the world was like. The upper decorative border of this map with its city plans and views communicates how the denizens of Asia live: the border decoration on the left and right are meant to show what the denizens of Asia look and dress like. Typically, these pair a man and a woman for each region. Blaeu's Asia features Syrians, Arabians, Persians, Filipinos and Sumatrans; Javans, Moluccans, Chinese, Russians and Tatars.

Cartes à figures were deluxe productions and seldom produced for narrow, regional maps save in scarce separate issues, and not all mapmakers included them in regular atlases. Willem Blaeu's world and continental maps are considered classics of the form.

Publication History and Census

This map was first engraved in 1617 and offered as a separate issue. This first state (the 1617 separate issue) can be distinguished by the author's imprint, 'Auctore Guil. Janssonio.' Atlas editions - such as this example - show the name changed to reflect Blaeu's use of his father's nickname (Blaeu,) a move the mapmaker made to better distinguish himself from his competitor, Jan Jansson. Such examples first appeared in Blaeu's 1630 Appendix; thereafter the map would be included in Blaeu's atlases in which it would remain until the end of the company's existence in 1672. At some point the plate developed a crack near the centerfold; the present example shows no evidence of this having yet occurred, and so this is a second state example of the map. No printings later than 1670 are known, indicating that the copperplate was among those destroyed in the great fire that finished the company. The present example conforms typographically to examples found in the 1635 Le Théâtre du Monde, the first French-text edition of the Blaeu Atlas. The map and its atlas are well represented in institutional collections in its many editions. Examples with original color of this quality and condition have grown scarce.