Magnum Mare del Zur cum Insula California. De Groote Zuyd-Zee en ‘t Eylandt California

Amsterdam : [R. & I. Ottens, 1745]. Copperplate engraving, 490 x 560 mm (image); 565 x 665 mm (sheet), hand coloured, small repair to tear in cartouche and a couple of pinholes, else fine.

A striking example of Reiner and Joshua Ottens’ chart of the Pacific Ocean, an updated state of Frederick De Wit’s chart of 1675.

The chart, based on a similar Goos chart of 1666, was first published in de Wit’s Orbis Maritimus ofte Zee Atlas in 1675. It was updated to include Compagnies Land in a second state before 1690. Renard re-issued this state in ca. 1715, with this being the final state, which includes New Britain, Tartary, and more central Pacific islands, and was issued in Atlas van zeevaart en koophandel door de geheele weereldt circa 1745.

The map shows details of seventeenth century Dutch discoveries in van Diemen’s Land, the Gulf of Carpentaria and North Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. North of the islands of Japan is a large protrusion that extends into the border of the map, Terre de Iesso; to the east is another set of islands called Terre de la Compagnie. These North Pacific chimeras often appeared on maps of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In this state, Tartary is included and the shapes of Iesso and Compagnies Land have been altered. The map prominently shows California as a large island.

The map is highly decorative with a large cartouche including a portrait of Pacific navigator Magellan. Masted ships sail across the Pacific, with numerous rhumb lines crossing the sea.

Collections:

National Library of Australia, State Library of New South Wales

The State Library of New South Wales and University of Melbourne hold examples dating circa 1675