Nicolaes Visscher's beautiful map of the Holy Land, appearing in his Atlas contractus orbis terrarum.

Oriented to the west. title cartouche with festoons and putti. Includes a plan of the Temple of Salomon (bottom center) flanked by Moses and Aaron and surmounted by the Ark of the Covenant.

(Arader)

One of the most distinctively decorated early maps of the Holy Land in a superb example. Among the map's exclusively Old Testament illustrations is an inset in the lower center showing the encampment of the Israelites during the Exodus flanked by the figures of Noah and Aaron. The map, based on Adrichom, is oriented with west at the top.

(Martayan Lan)

Condition

Stunning original colour. Pristine collector's condition.

"For nearly a century the members of the Visscher family were important art dealers and map publishers in Amsterdam. The founder of the business, Claes Janszoon Visscher, had premises near to those of Pieter van den Keere and Jodocus Hondius whose pupil he may have been.

From about 1620 he designed a number of individual maps, including one of the British Isles, but his first atlas consisted of maps printed from plates bought from van den Keere and issued as they stood with some additions of his own, including historical scenes of battles and sieges for which he had a high reputation.

Some maps bear the latinized form of the family name: Piscator. After Visscher's death his son and grandson, both of the same name, issued a considerable number of atlases, constantly revised and brought up to date but most of them lacking an index and with varying contents.

The widow of Nicholaes Visscher II carried on the business until it finally passed into the hands of Pieter Schenk."

(Moreland & Bannister).