Denmark – Frederick de Wit, c. 1680

DENMARK AND THE DANISH STRAITS AROUND 1680

“Dania regnum in quo sunt Ducatus Holsatia et Slesvicum Insulae Danicae et Provinciae Iutia, Scania, Blekingia et Hallandia.” [The Kingdom of Denmark, comprising the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig, the Danish islands, and the provinces of Jutland, Skåne, Blekinge and Halland.] Copper engraving, published in Amsterdam by Frederick de Wit, c. 1680. With original hand colouring. Size; (platemark) 50.1 × 58.0 cm.

The map covers Jutland, Funen, Zealand with Copenhagen, Lolland, Falster, Møn, Bornholm and the many smaller islands in Danish waters. It also depicts Schleswig and Holstein, the Mecklenburg coast with Rügen, and the southern part of Sweden, including Skåne, Halland and Blekinge.

The central position of Zealand and Funen makes clear why this region was of great strategic and economic importance. Along these islands ran the passages from the Kattegat into the Baltic: the Øresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt. Every merchant vessel sailing between the North Sea and the Baltic ports had to pass through one of these straits. The Danish crown levied a toll there, while Amsterdam shipowners and merchants played a dominant role in the Baltic trade of the seventeenth century. For an Amsterdam publisher such as De Wit, this was therefore not merely a northern region but a crucial junction in the European trading network.

The elaborate cartouche in the upper right is finely worked. Putti hold aloft a large, billowing cloth bearing the title. Beneath it appears the Danish coat of arms: three crowned blue lions on a gold field, surrounded by nine red heart-shaped water-lily leaves. The shield is crowned and flanked by two burly, bearded men with clubs, surrounded by cattle.

The map was produced shortly after an exceptionally turbulent period in Danish–Swedish relations. Under the Treaty of Roskilde of 1658, Denmark had been compelled to cede Skåne, Halland and Blekinge to Sweden. During the war of 1675–1679, King Christian V sought to recover these territories, but the peace of 1679 ultimately reaffirmed Swedish dominion over the former Danish provinces.

Frederick de Wit (c. 1630–1706) ranked among the foremost Amsterdam map publishers of the second half of the seventeenth century. A native of Gouda, he worked in Amsterdam from a young age and published world atlases, sea atlases, regional maps and town plans. From 1655 to 1706 De Wit kept his shop on the corner of the Dam and the Kalverstraat.

Price: Euro 575,-