Antique Map of the Haute-Vienne, Limoges and Marshal Jourdan, circa 1860

About this sheet

The department of the Haute-Vienne, the western Limousin, with Limoges as chef-lieu and Bellac, Bessines, Saint-Junien, Nieul, Eymoutiers and La Souterraine named across the granite uplands. The Vienne runs through the sheet and the woods and moorland of the plateau are shown in fine hachure. An engraved portrait of Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, born at Limoges in 1762, the victor of Fleurus and the author of the conscription law that carries his name, is set on the plate. Limoges is known everywhere for its porcelain and its enamels, which gives a map of the department a recognisable name to sell on even to a buyer with no French connection.

La France, Nouvel Atlas Illustre des Departements et des Colonies was drawn by Alexandre Vuillemin, ingenieur geographe, and published in Paris by Migeon at 9 rue de la Vieille Monnaie. Vuillemin built each sheet from the official surveys, the Cassini maps, the Depot de la Guerre, the Ponts et Chaussees and the charts of the Marine, and then framed the map with engraved vignettes: a portrait of a figure born in the department, a view of a monument or a ruin, a coat of arms. The result is part atlas and part popular encyclopaedia, and it remains one of the most decorative French departmental series of the nineteenth century.

The plates in this copy show France divided into eighty six departments and the county of Nice still outside the frontier, so the engraving was completed before the annexation of Savoy and Nice in 1860, although Migeon went on issuing the atlas for many years afterwards. The sheets suit a French interior particularly well, and a group of neighbouring departments hung together makes an attractive run.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning and a few small spots confined to the margins; the image itself 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.