This fine beautifully hand coloured original antique map of China along with Korea, Japan and parts of the Philippines & SE Asia was published by Jan Jansson in the 1637 edition of Atlas Novus.

This boldly engraved map combines elements of cartographical information complied by the two Portuguese Jesuits priests Luis Teixeira (1595) & Luis Jorge de Barbuda (1584). Teixeira was responsible for much of the early cartographical information on Japan and  de Barbuda was responsible for early information on China. This information was the basis for one of the first concise maps of the region by Abraham Ortelius in the late 16th century.
This fascinating map, with the northern & eastern region encompassed by the Great Wall, is dominated by several large lakes and major rivers. Korea as a strangely shaped island separated from the mainland by a narrow straight. The three main islands of Japan are shown on the Ortelius & Teixeira model. The imaginary "Chiamay Lacus" is located in the southern part of the map, with numerous rivers flowing south into India and Siam.
The map is richly embellished with sailing ships and junks, a decorative distance scale, and a title cartouche flanked by a Chinese man and woman.

In contrast to the relatively late mapping of the major continents by the Europeans the mapping of China stretches back as far back as 1100BC. Almost 100years after Ptolemy produced "Geographia" and around the same time paper was invented in China an 18-sheet map of China was produced by Pei Hsui (AD 224-71). In the following years contact was re-established between the Chinese and Europeans - contact was known between the two cultures from before Ptolemy - through Marco Polo, Carpini (1245), Rubruquis (1252) and other Franciscan missionaries and it was through the accounts of their travels that scholars began to reshape their ideas of Cathay. In the 16th & 17th centuries the Jesuits exerted a considerable influence on Chinese mapmaking. Matteo Ricci complied the first European map of the world printed and circulated in China (1584 - 1602) Ludovico Georgio who's map of China was used by Ortelius (1584) and subsequently by other Dutch publishers; Father Martino Martini an Italian Jesuit who compiled the first European Atlas of China Atlas Sinensis which was used by Blaeu, Jansson and others. (Ref: Koeman; M&B; Tooley)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Green, red, orange, yellow, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic 
Paper size: - 22in x 18in (560mm x 460mm)
Plate size: - 20in x 16 1/4in (510mm x 415mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - Bottom centerfold re-joined, no loss
Verso: - Light soiling on verso

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