Greece - Chios; Henri de Beauvau - Scio - 1615

Technical datasheet

Subject / Title: Scio (Island of Chios)
Author / Cartographer / Engraver: Henri de Beauvau
Publisher / Printer: Jacob Garnich
Place: Nancy, Duchy of Lorraine
Era / Date: 1615
Technique: Copper-plate engraving (etching and burin)
Support: Antique laid paper
Dimensions: Sheet about 23 × 18 cm; engraving imprint about 15 × 11 cm
Composition: Single geographic plate taken from *Relation journalière du voyage du Levant*

Description

Rare antique geographic map depicting the island of Scio (today Chios), published in Nancy in 1615 in the work Relation journalière du voyage du Levant* by Henri de Beauvau. The plate belongs to one of the most significant French testimonies dedicated to the eastern Mediterranean in the early seventeenth century and documents the European perception of the Aegean islands during Ottoman rule.

The composition presents the entire island through a cartographic language still tied to the tradition of Renaissance isolari. The territory is described through schematic mountain reliefs, waterways, settlements and numbered localities called out in the original legend. The town of Scio, depicted in the northeast part of the island and identified by the inscription “SCIO,” dominates the composition with a large fortified view that highlights the strategic and commercial role of the island’s main urban center. Around it, villages, castles and small settlements are distributed, represented according to figurative conventions that prioritize descriptive function over topographic precision.

The engraving preserves the documentary character typical of early Levantine representations, where direct observation combines with the geographic tradition of the sixteenth century. The whole constitutes a precious testimony to Western knowledge of the Greek Archipelago and the eastern Mediterranean trade routes at the beginning of the modern era.

Historical-artistic note

Henri de Beauvau (1575–1635), belonging to one of the most important noble families of Lorraine, published in 1615 the Relation journalière du voyage du Levant, an illustrated account of his journey through the eastern Mediterranean territories and the Ottoman Empire. The work was printed in Nancy by Jacob Garnich and represents one of the principal French sources devoted to the Levant in the early seventeenth century.

The geographic plates included in the volume show a clear derivation from the tradition of the Venetian isolari of the sixteenth century, adapted, however, to a French editorial sensibility oriented toward geographic dissemination and place descriptions. The original engravings from the work are now relatively rare and are particularly valued for their historical-documentary interest and for the early representation of the Aegean Islands.

Condition Report

Copy printed on antique laid paper. Normal signs of time and slight widespread oxidation compatible with the period. Regular margins. The intaglio impression is clearly visible and legible, with good preservation of graphic details. Any minimal signs of handling and wear are consistent with the type and age of the work. Overall good conservation status for a print from the early seventeenth century.