Northern Asia. Matthaus Merian, Tartaria sive Magni Chami Imperiorum, 1695 (circa). Hand Color. A deftly engraved map based on Blaeu's map of Tartaria and northern China with information that was compiled by the English and Dutch explorers as well as the reports of Marco Polo and the Greek classics. Tiny devils and dragons frolic in the desert outside the Great Wall and numerous notes fill the unexplored regions. The decorative features of the map are also similar to Blaeu's; the title is symbolically engraved onto the saddle blanket of a camel, representing the trade over the Silk Road.

A crisp impression on a bright, watermarked sheet with light toning and foxing mostly confined to the edges of the sheet and a faint dampstain in the bottom margin. Grade: A

10.7 x 13.9 in