Antique Map of the Straits of Gibraltar by J. Gascoyne, circa 1716

Antique map titled 'Carte de la Mer Mediterranee en Douze Feuilles'. First map out of twelve fine engraved double-page and folding maps that join to create a large wall map...

Antique map titled 'Cote du Nord Est de l'Isle de Juan Fernandez (..).' Map of the Chilean South Pacific archipelago of the Juan Fernandez Islands. This island was made famous by Dan...

Antique map titled 'Kaart van een Deel der Middelandsche Zee (..)'. Old map of the region around the Mediterranean Sea. Originates from the first Dutch editon of an interesting t...

Antique map titled 'Anzuany'. This map depicts the island of Anjouan, one of the Comoros islands situated between Madagascar and Africa. The map is oriented with north to the left wi...

Antique Map - Mar Di Athiopia is an antique map realized in 1650 by Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664). The Map is Hand-colored etching, with coeval watercolorang. Good conditions wit...

Jacques Bellin's copper-plate map entitled "Partie de la Coste de Guinee Dupuis la Riviere de Sierra Leona Jusquau Cap das Palmas", depicting the coast of Guinea and Sierra Leone in ...

Mare Pacificum is an antique map realized in 1650 by Johannes Janssonius (1588-1664). The Map is Hand-colored etching, with coeval watercolorang. Good conditions with slight foxing...

This is a 17th century hand-colored map entitled "Insula Gaditana Isla de Cadiz" from Johannes (Joan) Blaeu's Atlas Maior, published in Amsterdam in 1662. The map provides an excellent plan of Cadiz Island on the southwest coast of Spain, with its harbor, fortifications, agricultural fields and several surrounding salt processing areas. Numerous sailing ships of various sizes are included in and around the harbor and bay, including five large sailing ships, as well as twenty-four smaller ships. There is a small compass rose overlying the bay. The bridge to the mainland from the island is shown on the right. There is an extremely ornate and colorful title cartouche in the lower left, with its mythological figures reminiscent of Raphael’s Galatea fresco at the Villa Farnesina in Rome. The vibrant colors are vividly preserved. The master colorist tried to emulate a painting by using various tones to create a three-dimensional effect.
 Blaeu's name is present in the plate in the lower right. Blaeu stated in his description of Cadiz: “The main wealth of the islanders consists of salt, which they harvest, and
 the tuna fisheries.” 
 This 17th century hand-colored map is framed in an ornate, partially textured bronze-colored wood frame and glazed with UV protected conservation glass. There is a vertical center fold, as issued. There is a faint crease in the lower right and faint color offset on the left from the right side of the map, resulting from having been in an atlas for hundreds of years. Small foci of paint are present in the upper portion of the left margin and in the left corner margin. The map is otherwise in very good condition. Due in large part to their powerful trade empire, the Dutch became known for cartography in the seventeenth century. This period is considered the Golden Age of Dutch cartography. Their publishing houses produced the highest quality work in Europe, particularly those maps and charts of foreign lands, and Dutch map-making set the bar for cartographic accuracy and artistry into the early-eighteenth century. Some of the most well-known cartographers worked in Amsterdam during this period. Perhaps the most famous of these was the Blaeu family. Willem Janszoon Blaeu, set up shop in Amsterdam. His son, Johannes (Joan), succeeded him upon his death in 1638, continuing in his father’s position as Hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company and selling maps to the public. The Blaeu map presses, located near Amsterdam’s Dam Square...