Antique Blaeu Map of the Principality of Orange and Avignon, 1642
€ 1 950
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1642
Mapmaker / artist
Joan Blaeu
Publisher
Joan Blaeu, Amsterdam
Technique
Copper Engraving
Coloring
Later hand color
Sheet size
50 × 59 cm (19.7 × 23.2 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
HP-045
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Good condition for its age. Light toning and soiling to the margins, with a small gray spot in the upper right margin; edges slightly uneven. Centre fold as issued. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
The principality of Orange and the Comtat Venaissin, drawn by Jacques de Chieze of Orange and dedicated on the plate to Frederick Henry of Nassau, prince of Orange, count of Nassau, Catzenellenbogen, Vianden, Diets, Lingen, Moers and Buren. That dedication is the point of the sheet: Orange was a sovereign principality belonging to the Dutch house of Nassau, which is where the house of Orange takes its name and its color, and a Dutch atlas of 1642 had every reason to map it carefully. Avignon, Carpentras, Cavaillon, Apt, Mont Ventoux and the Durance are named. For a Dutch or a British buyer this is the most historically resonant plate in the French section of the atlas, and it is priced accordingly.
The Blaeu house of Amsterdam was the greatest cartographic publisher of the Dutch golden age. Willem Jansz Blaeu began the atlas that his son Joan Blaeu carried to its full extent, and the Dutch text edition, Toonneel des Aerdriicx ofte Nieuwe Atlas, set a standard for engraving, paper and typography that no rival in Europe matched. The copper plates were cut with great delicacy, the title cartouches were designed as ornaments in their own right, and the sheets were printed on heavy laid paper that has survived three and a half centuries remarkably well.
Blaeu maps have been collected continuously since the seventeenth century and are the benchmark against which other Dutch cartography is measured, so a sheet from this atlas is a serious piece of the history of the book as well as a map. A large Blaeu plate is one of the few antique maps that can carry a wall on its own.
The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning and soiling to the margins and a small gray spot at the upper right; the center fold is as issued and the image is clean.
This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
