“Novissima & exactissima totius orbis Terrarum Tabula” Hand coloured copper engraving from the “Atlas Maritimus Ofte Zee Atlas“. Published in Nuremberg by David Funcke c. 1700. Size: 48 x 55 cm.

David Funcke was a Nuremberg publisher, who commissioned works from Johann Baptiste Homann. This attractive and ingenious map however, derives from a work by Romeyn de Hooghe “one of the most accomplished Dutch artists of the second half of the 17th century” that appeared in Frederick de Wit’s Atlas. The marginal decoration in this work depicting the four elements of Classical philosophy portrays Fire as a military battle; Air as the heavens ruled by the Zodiac and serenaded by Apollo; Earth as a field being harvested and husbandry; and Water, a sea with Dutch ships and a sputing whale. There are Greek gods presiding from the sidelines of all these scenes: Zeus, Hera, Hades, Persephone, Demeter and Poseidon.

The map has two large hemispheres and two smaller, polar hemispheres. There is an outline of an Antarctic continent, which De Wit had left blank.

Reference: Shirley 616 (and 444), plate 327.

Price: Euro 7.500,- (incl. frame)