Lot No. 6: WILLEM JANSZOON BLAEU (1571 - 1638)

WILLEM JANSZOON BLAEU (1571 - 1638)

MAGINI MOGOLIS IMERPIUM (MUGHAL OR MOGUL EMPIRE)

Mounted

Year: Circa 1640s

Map Size: 61.3 x 50.6 cm (24.1 x 19.9 inches)
Mount Size: 67 x 56.9 cm (26.3 x 22.4 inches)

Henricus Hondius published a map of the “Magni Mogolis Empire” in his Atlas Novus of 1638. This almost identical map from the Appendix of 1640 is the work of Janszoon Blaeu. The maps by Hondius and Blaeu were a vast improvement on previous ones. For the first time, the mouth of the Indus (left) appeared correctly, west of the Gulf of Gambay. The map is rich in troponins.
The interior of the continent is decorated with elephants and dromedaries. The cartouche refers to the client who ordered this map: John Huydekoper, member of an Amsterdam noble family.
This map also documents the presence and importance of ‘Caravaserais’ (rest spot of travellers) in Mughal India. Multiple rest stops were marked along a route in Mughal India.

Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638)
Willem Janszoon Blaeu was born 1571 in Alkmaar. He was trained from 1594 to 1596 by the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. In 1599, he went to Amsterdam and founded a business as a globe maker. Later he started producing maps and sea charts, including his first world map in 1605. In 1633 he was appointed Hydrographer for the Dutch East India Company. His most famous work was the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum sive Atlas Novus of 1635, which was published until 1655 in a total six volumes. After Blaeu's death in 1638, his sons Joan and Cornelis continued the business and finished the Atlas Novus and started an even larger work, the Atlas Maior, which reached 12 volumes. In 1672, a fire destroyed the printing house and most of the printing plates. Joan Blaeu died the following year, leaving the business to his three sons.

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Provenance : Collection of a Gentleman