About the Work

Portolan chart of the West Indies signed by Pieter Goos and published by Johannes van Keulen, Amsterdam, second half of the 17th century (circa 1680–1690).

Engraved on vellum and enhanced with colour, decorated with cartouches and heraldic emblems, this portolan chart illustrates the sea routes and colonial territories of the West Indies according to Mercator's projection.

Centered on the Atlantic Ocean, it shows the coasts of Southern Europe, Africa, and the Americas and reflects the trade networks and colonial expansion of the United Provinces (1581–1795) and the role of the Dutch West India Company (WIC).

Such charts were used for navigation, commercial and military planning, as well as for the circulation of geographical knowledge.

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Provenance

Ex French private collection for the past 40 years.

Literature

• A similar example, with less polychromy, is held in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (inventory reference GE B-1027).

• A comparable example is held at the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. (inventory reference G3201.P5 1660.G6), entitled:
“West-Indische paskaert… vertonende behalve Europaes zuydelijcste alle de seekusten van Africa en America…”(= West Indies chart… showing, in addition to the southernmost part of Europe, all the coastlines of Africa and America). This impression is based on the original series of West-Indische Paskaert maps integrated into Goos’s Zee-Atlas ofte Water-Wereld (Amsterdam, 1666), considered one of the earliest major printed nautical atlases.

• A similar example is preserved at the Scheepvaartmuseum – Maritime Museum of Amsterdam (inventory reference A.3127(02)):
“Met de hand gekleurde, gedrukte Westindische paskaart door Pieter Goos, circa 1726 uitgegeven door Johannes van Keulen, derde staat.”(= Hand-coloured, printed West Indies chart by Pieter Goos, circa 1726, published by Johannes van Keulen, third state).