Greenland & the North Pole – Antique Polar Map by V.M. Coronelli, c.1692
€ 1 290
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1692
Mapmaker / artist
Vincenzo Coronelli (Artist)
Technique
Engraved
Sheet size
49 × 68 cm (19.3 × 26.8 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-00874
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
Minor fading. Good condition with some toning mostly in the margins. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
The Arctic as a circular polar segment by Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, an engraving dated 1692 in the listing, made for his large terrestrial globe for Louis XIV. The sheet is lettered in Italian with the legend "Oceano Scitico Settentrionale, e Glaciale" and "Terre Artiche" around the margin.
The projection is centered on the Pole, from which radiating lines of longitude run to a series of parallels, and an inner ring of text surrounds the center. Around the circumference the sheet shows the northern coastlines then known, including parts of Canada and the Hudson Bay region, Greenland, Scandinavia and Siberia, drawn with the loose, partly guessed outlines typical of the period. Pictorial scenes of hunters pursuing bears, seals and whales are set among the northern lands.
The sheet is unusual among Coronelli material for showing the polar region alone, and it is of interest for how the north of North America and the passages around it were imagined in the late seventeenth century.
