Carte generale du monde, ou description du monde terrestre & Aquatique - Generale Waereld kaart, of beschryving van de land en water waereld

1700

Later hand-coloured copper engraving on paper

15.25 x 18 in (38.5 x 45.9 cm)

This is Pierre Mortier's Mercator projection globe map. It portrays California as an island, with the Detroit d'Anian connected by dotted lines via a Northwest Passage to Button's Bay, which is positioned west of Hudson Bay. There is an incorrect big lake depicted as the source of the R. de Nort (Rio Grande River) in the Southwest, as well as Mer Douce, an early, open-ended depiction of the Great Lakes. In the Pacific, a little New Zealand shoreline appears. Witsen's Cap de Glaces may be seen on the drastically shortened northeast coast of Asia. Australia's northern coast is portrayed connected to New Guinea, while two discontinuous coasts, including Van Diemen's Land, appear to the south.

The five spheres showing day and night, the flood, the phases of the moon, and the Western and Eastern Hemispheres are the most intriguing characteristics of the map. Jan van Luchenburg meticulously etched the map (imprint at lower left). P. Mortier's 'Historie des Ouden en Nieuwen Testaments' inspired this map.

Pierre, or Pieter Mortier (1661-1711) was a Dutch engraver and refugee's son from France. He was born in the Dutch city of Leiden. In 1690, he was granted the right to print French maps in Dutch territory. He published the first and companion book of the Neptune Francois in 1693. The third came in 1700. Cornelis (1699-1783), his son, would form a partnership with Johannes Covens I to become one of the most prominent map printing enterprises of the eighteenth century.

This work will be shipped unframed.

NON-EXPORTABLE