This is lovely nautical chart of the Barents Sea. It depicts the coast of northern Russia, Lapland, and Nova Zemla (New Land). It is highly decorative with sailing vessels, two compass roses which orient north to the left, and a whale hunting scene involving several small harpooning boats and two large whales. The elaborate title cartouche depicts a variety of hunting scenes common above the arctic circle. Atop the cartouche, several figures boil a large vat of animal fat into oil.
The Barents Sea was formerly known to Russians as Murmanskoye Morye, or the "Sea of Murmans" (Norwegians), and it appears with this name in sixteenth-century maps, including Gerard Mercator's Map of the Arctic published in his 1595 atlas. This sea was given its present name in honor of Willem Barentsz, a Dutch navigator and explorer. Barentsz was the leader of early expeditions to the far north, at the end of the sixteenth century.

This map is in B condition. A small hole in the center has been repaired with archival material.

19.25 x 22 in