Asia 1638 - 1642

Jodocus Hondius

PaperPrint
45 ⨯ 56 cm
€ 3.450

Inter-Antiquariaat Mefferdt & De Jonge

• About the artwork
  FINE RARE CARTE À FIGURES MAP OF ASIA "Asia recens summa cura delineata Auct. Iud: Hondio". Copper engraving by Jodocus Hondius, published in Amsterdam between 1638-1642 (4th state) by Jan Jansson. With original hand colouring. Verso: German text. Size: 45,5 x 56,5 cm. This highly attractive map embraces all of Asia. The Middle East is very well formed, although the Caspian Sea has the egg-like form it maintained on maps until the 1730s. The Arabian Peninsula is well defined, based on Portuguese sources, and India takes its form after the maps of the Dutch adventurer, Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1596), which, in turn, borrowed from Portuguese sources.  Southeast Asia and the Indonesian Archipelago are derived from charts made for the Dutch East India Company (VOC), while China is derived from Jesuit sources, although Korea is an oddly elongated peninsula. The geography of the region would remain an enigma to Europeans until the early 18th Century.  Japan's Honshu and Kyushu are recognizable, although the area further to the northeast remains a vast mystery. True to the carte à figures' style, which was the hallmark of the great contemporary period of Dutch Baroque cartography, the map is surrounded on four sides by registers of fine vignettes. Along the top of the map are views of Famagusta (Cyprus), Rhodes (Greece), Damascus, Jerusalem, Aden and Hormuz (Persia).  Along the left side of the map are depictions of people in local costume including Syrians, Arabs, Armenians & Persians, Indians, and Sumatrans.  On the right side are depictions that include Javanese, Moluccans & Bandans, Chinese, Russians and Tartars. Along the bottom of the map there are further town views of Dutch trading posts Goa (India), Calcutta (Bengal/India), Kandy (Ceylon), Bantam, Gammalamme (Moluccas) and Macao. In addition the map is embellished by a fine title cartouche and ships and sea monsters in the seas. The map was originally conceived by Jodocus Hondius the Younger (1594-1629), whose eponymous father played a large part in the rise of Amsterdam as the dominant cartographic production centre in the 17th Century. The present edition of the map is by Jan Jansson (1588-1664), who married Jodocus the Younger's sister Elizabeth.  He transformed the Hondius firm into a powerhouse of geographical publications. Jansson most notably published the Atlas Novus (1638), and the Atlas Major (1660), the 11 volumes of which included a town atlas, a hydrographic atlas, an atlas of the ancient world, and Andreas Cellarius' incomparable celestial atlas.  Jansson's works were rivalled only by those of his arch-nemesis Joan Blaeu. The present map is one of the finest depictions of Asia from the apogee of Dutch cartography. Price: Euro 3.450,-  
• About the artist

  Jodocus Hondius (17 October 1563 – 12 February 1612), also known by the Latinized form of his Dutch name Joost de Hondt, was a Flemish engraver and cartographer and one of the defining figures of the Golden Age of Dutch cartography. To distinguish him from his son, he is often referred to as Jodocus Hondius the Elder.

  Hondius rose to prominence through his exceptional ability to combine technical engraving skill with geographical scholarship. He is best known for his early and influential maps of Europe and the New World, which helped shape Europe’s visual understanding of newly explored territories at the turn of the seventeenth century. His maps are characterised by clarity, precision and rich decorative detail—qualities that made them both authoritative scientific documents and highly desirable works of art.

  A pivotal moment in Hondius’s career was his acquisition of the original printing plates of Gerardus Mercator. At a time when Mercator’s reputation had begun to fade, Hondius republished and expanded these plates, integrating his own revisions and newly available geographical knowledge. This act not only revived Mercator’s legacy but also ensured its lasting influence, leading to the celebrated Mercator–Hondius atlases that would dominate European cartography for decades.

  Beyond mapmaking, Hondius was also a skilled portrait engraver. His portraits of Francis Drake are among the most recognisable visual representations of the famed English navigator, further demonstrating Hondius’s versatility and cultural reach.

  As one of the central figures of the Dutch cartographic Golden Age (c. 1570s–1670s), Hondius played a crucial role in establishing Amsterdam as the leading centre of cartography in seventeenth-century Europe. His work bridged art, science and commerce, shaping how the world was mapped, understood and imagined. Today, Jodocus Hondius the Elder is remembered as a master engraver, an innovative publisher, and a key architect of modern cartographic history.

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