This rare and distinctive map first appeared in Cornelis de Jode's "Speculum Orbis Terrae" (Antwerp, 1593). It was issued in 1578 by Cornelis de Jode's father, Gerard, in competition with the work of Abraham Ortelius (who may have used his influence to delay the granting of de Jode's official permission to print, in order to benefit Ortelius' own and more popular atlas, the "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum"). The design of the map is unusual: a central circle encloses a map of China, Northeast Asia and parts of western Japan including Kyushu, Shikoku, and most of mainland Honshu. The emergent shape of the Korean peninsula and gulf of Pecheli (Bohai) are shown for the first time on a European map. The elaborate strap-work border with four round insets shows European visions of Chinese and Ja...[ Read more ]

This rare and distinctive map first appeared in Cornelis de Jode's "Speculum Orbis Terrae" (Antwerp, 1593). It was issued in 1578 by Cornelis de Jode's father, Gerard, in competition with the work of Abraham Ortelius (who may have used his influence to delay the granting of de Jode's official permission to print, in order to benefit Ortelius' own and more popular atlas, the "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum"). The design of the map is unusual: a central circle encloses a map of China, Northeast Asia and parts of western Japan including Kyushu, Shikoku, and most of mainland Honshu. The emergent shape of the Korean peninsula and gulf of Pecheli (Bohai) are shown for the first time on a European map. The elaborate strap-work border with four round insets shows European visions of Chinese and Japanese scenes. They provide some of the earliest detailed Western illustrations of any aspect of Chinese and Japanese life.

Description

This decorative map was published in Antwerp by Cornel is de Jode in 1593. Its elaborate design is representative of the late Flemish renaissance. The central map is supplemented with four roundels : circular illustrations, that relate to its area. This design may be seen as a precursor to the "figured border maps", that began to be developed in the last decade of the 16th century, especially by the Flemish mapmaker Jodocus Hondius.

The first European maps of China were printed in the 1580's, based on information that was brought from Asia by Portuguese traders and by Jesuit missionaries. The emerging shape of Korea, and China's Gulf of Pecheli (the present Gulf of Bohai) are pictured here for the first time on a European map. In China, the Great Wall is shown as a neatly linear construction ; the Pearl river estuary is pictured in an exaggerated size, probably reflecting its commercial significance. Guangzhou and Macau are named on the map.

The four roundels show scenes in China and Japan. These illustrations pre-date the engravings that are found in the earliest travel accounts of the area, such as the ones by Theodore de Bry ; most likely they derive from contemporary Jesuit reports . They provide some of the earliest detailed Western illustrations of Chinese and Japanese life. The roundel in the upper left corner shows on the left the use of trained cormorants to catch fish ; on the right a junk is pictured with a fenced-in area at its side, containing domesticated birds. The left roundel below shows Japanese worshipping a tripleheaded deity ; the lower right roundel pictures the famous Chinese wind-wagons, news of which had reached Europe in the 1580's. A contemporary description states that "when they [the Chinese] travel over the Plaines, they use a kinde of coach, yet not drawn with horses or. other beast, but driven with the winde under sayle as a Barke on the Sea".

This is a rare map, that was published only once in an atlas by Cornelis de Jode (1568-1600). His father Gerard de Jode (1509-91) began publishing maps around 1555, but the De Jades were never able to compete successfully with other mapmakers such as Mercator or Ortelius. Both father and son De Jode only published one atlas in their life.

--Description of this map by Robert Braeken, mercator@mercatormaps.com