("The Western Ocean")
(circa 1700)

Beautifully hand colored copperplate engraving on laid paper.
26 1/2 x 30 inches, overall.
Framed to museum specifications with silk duplex matting.

This remarkably decorative chart of the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent lands (North and South America, Europe and Africa is difficult to attribute to a particular mapmaker. The ornamentation and calligraphy is in the style of late 17th century Dutch cartographers, but the slight wear of the plate reveals that it is a later edition. The inclusion of the French royal crest (Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense) appears in the upper right of the image, an indication that this impression was issued by a French publisher. Whatever its nationality, this is an undeniably beautiful early chart with wonderful decorative details. Indigeneous people and animals surround the scale in South America. The title is placed on the African continent. It is surrounded by figures, reminiscent of the Botticelli painting "The Birth of Venus", to which has been added a camel, elephant, lion and rhino.