Planisphaerium Terrestre Cum Utroque Coelesti Hemisphaerio
Item C08 - 180 x 130 cms - Price R15,750
One of the purposes of antique maps was to document man's impact on the territory and, given the fact that they date at least as far back as the Babylonian era and cover all the earth's surface, we can say that antique maps are as vast as civilization, anticipating even the use of writing. At the beginning they were schematic representations of evident planimetric features which served to find again a previously traveled land or sea route, based on rudimentary elements of length and direction.
They gradually became increasingly expressive descriptions and, as man's horizons, knowledge and needs expanded, thanks to surer and more dependable methods of measuring and drawing they began to involve increasingly larger areas and ultimately all the parts of the earth's surface. In addition, maps investigated the shape and size of the earth itself and were used to study the laws of the Universe, to which many terrestrial phenomena seemed linked. At the same time, drawing techniques were also becoming more elaborate and more sophisticated, resulting in the creation of maps of the world which can be rightly considered milestones of the science of cartography.
The Planisphere offered here rightfully belongs among these works, both for the information it contains and for the finesse of its drawing and the elegance of its forms. By an unknown author, but almost certainly of the Dutch school, this great seventeenth century map stands out in particular for the beauty of the four cartouches at the vertices which enclose the actual cartographic drawing.
