Produced in the aftermath of the Black Death and about 130 years before Columbus first reached the New World, this chart extends from the scarcely known islands of the open Atlantic to the vast Eurasian steppes of the Golden Horde. In the west, it shows the convoluted borders of the Hundred Years’ War, the crescent flag over the last Muslim kingdom in Iberia, and the most complete mapping of the British Isles yet achieved. In the east, it records the surviving Crusader strongholds on the margins of the Levant, their Mamluk conquerors, and the final outposts of the Byzantine Empire. To the north, an unusually rich rendering of Norway includes depictions of gyrfalcons, prized by medieval nobility.

In the south, the inclusion of a full-length portrait of Ptolemy - predating the rediscovery and Latin translation of his Geographia by Jacopo Angeli in 1410 - significantly enhances understanding of early Renaissance perceptions of the second-century geographer. Titled “Rex” and shown crowned, he is depicted in a manner not uncommon in late medieval and early Renaissance imagery, reflecting a conflation with the Macedonian Ptolemies who ruled Egypt. This detail illuminates the developing humanist engagement with ancient geographical authority and an emerging recognition of Ptolemy’s importance to cartography.

Building on earlier scholarship, the chart’s geography and toponymy have been examined in detail, including the geopolitical implications of its numerous coloured pennants. The chart has been reviewed by leading specialists in portolan cartography and subjected to carbon-14 dating and multi-spectral imaging. These investigations confirm the conclusions of earlier scholars, indicating a date of production most plausibly in the mid-14th century.

As recorded in the MEDEA Chart Database, the principal census of early portolans, this chart is one of only four complete maps of Europe surviving from so early a date. It is predated solely by three charts associated with Angelino Dulceti, now held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the British Library, and the Corsini Collection.

The chart’s distinctive cartography and iconography open new avenues for the study of early modern mapmaking at the threshold of the Age of Navigation.