Achterhoek (County of Zutphen) – Covens & Mortier, ca. 1720

THE ACHTERHOEK IN THE LATE 17TH CENTURY

“Comitatus Zutphaniae sive Geldriae Tetrarchiae” [Map of the County of Zutphen, also known as the Fourth Quarter of Guelders], first published by Frederick de Wit in 1690, here in a reissue by Covens & Mortier, ca. 1720. With original hand colouring. Size: 49.7 × 57 cm.

In the late 17th century, the Quarter of Zutphen was one of the four quarters of the Duchy of Guelders, within the Dutch Republic. The region emerged from the medieval County of Zutphen, which had once been a semi-independent feudal county but was incorporated administratively into Guelders from the 14th century onward.

After its recapture from the French in 1674 (during the Franco-Dutch War), Zutphen remained a fortified border town, strategically positioned along the River IJssel. (We see a river god depicted in the title cartouche at the lower right of the map.) The town was surrounded by a largely agricultural landscape – today’s Achterhoek – where farming and livestock formed the economic foundation. (A cornucopia also decorates the cartouche.)

By the end of the 17th century, Zutphen had largely lost its former trading significance. Since the rise of the Dutch maritime trade in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, major international trade flows had shifted westward toward the coastal provinces. Nevertheless, Zutphen remained a regional administrative center with a seat in the States of Guelders and retained prestige through its castles and noble estates, where aristocratic families shaped the social hierarchy. Its proximity to the eastern border ensured ongoing military and administrative vigilance.

After growing up in Gouda, Frederick de Wit (1629/30–1706) settled in Amsterdam around 1648. He opened a shop on the Kalverstraat, and acquired copper plates previously used by Johannes Janssonius. After 1655, the shop was renamed De Witte Pascaert [“De Wit + sea chart”], located at the corner of Dam Square. Through his 1661 marriage to Maria van der Waag, De Wit gained Amsterdam citizenship and could join the St. Luke’s Booksellers’ Guild. After his death, De Wit’s copper plates passed to Johannes Covens and Cornelis Mortier, who reissued many of the maps in their own, often composite, atlases.

Price: Euro 395,-