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Russia in Original Color With Gold
Russia/ Ukraine.
BLAEU, J. & C. [Amsterdam, 1640]
Russiae, Vulgo Moscovia Pars Australis. Auctore Isaaco Massa.
15 x 20 ¼ inches.
Superb original color and gold highlighting; margins extended with virtually no loss, very good.
Beautiful, richly colored and detailed map of Southern Muscovy, showing the entire Volga river system and the Ukraine east of the Dniepr. The Russian arms appear in the upper right, flanked by streltsy, Moscow’s famed professional soldiers. Much of the map’s decoration alludes to the predominance of the Russian fur trade. The cartouche is embellished with fighting bears and hanging pelts; the scales are framed by seated figures in the garb of Russian nobles displaying furs. The map’s cartography was derived largely from information supplied by Isaac Massa, a Dutchman who lived in Moscow as a boy in the first decade of the 17th century.
Bagrow, L. History of Russian Cartography, p. 89. |
