Medio Oriente - Iran; Verdussen - Perse - 1725

Technical sheet

Title: Perse – Map of the Persian Empire
Author: I. Peeters
Illustrator: I. Peeters
Publisher: Juan Bautista Verdussen
Place: Antwerp
Period/Date: 1725
Technique: copper engraving on copper, executed with aquatint and burin, with period hand coloring
Support: laid paper
Dimensions: sheet 19 × 20 cm; imprint 13.5 × 15.5 cm
Marks / Signatures / Inscriptions: title «Perse» in the upper right corner; geographical scale expressed in Persian parasangs and French leagues
Composition: map originally folded, taken from El Atlas abreviado o Compendiosa geographia del mundo antiguo y nuevo, published in Antwerp in 1725

Description

Eighteenth-century map titled Perse, dedicated to the Persian Empire and neighboring regions, published in Antwerp by Juan Bautista Verdussen in 1725.

The depiction includes a broad territory bounded to the north by the Caspian Sea, indicated as «Mer Caspienne» and «Mer de Kilan», to the west by Georgia and Armenia, to the south by the Persian Gulf and to the east by Kandahar and Moghul territories. Also clearly identifiable are the Gulf of Basra, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Kurdistan and the historical Persian regions of Chorasan, Mazanderan, Esterabat, Kerman and Seistan.

The territory is described through a dense network of towns, settlements and waterways. Among the main centers appear Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz, Kerman, Kandahar, Herat, Mashhad and Baghdad. The mountain ranges are rendered with small perspective elevations, according to the cartographic convention of the period.

In the upper right corner the title Perse is inserted within a sober ornamental element, accompanied by a double scale expressed in Persian parasangs and French leagues. The gridded scale along the frame allows reading of the geographic coordinates.

Manual coloring highlights the territorial boundaries, coastlines, the cartouche and the frame, contributing to the legibility of the composition without interfering with the minute toponymic apparatus.

Historic-artistic note

The map belongs to the Antwerp edition of 1725 of El Atlas abreviado or Compendiosa geographia del mundo antiguo y nuevo, a Spanish-language geographic atlas conceived to offer a synthesis of the main regions of the world then known.

The maps of the work are distinguished by their compact format and the remarkable concentration of geographic information. The Persia representation reflects European knowledge from the late 17th to the early 18th century, when the Safavid Empire held a central position in political and commercial exchanges between the Mediterranean, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

The presence of French toponyms and the double geographic scale testifies to the international circulation of the cartographic models used by the Flemish publishers. Juan Bautista Verdussen’s publication fits into Antwerp’s long-standing publishing tradition, an important European center for producing and disseminating atlases also aimed at the Spanish-language market.

Condition Report

Copy in good conservation state. There is the vertical central editorial crease, with slight waviness and further folding marks. Diffuse browning, foxing and age stains affect both the engraved area and the margins, with greater concentration in the upper part and along the central crease. Margins preserved, with small irregularities and signs of handling compatible with the period. Clear and fully legible impression; manual coloring well preserved. White verso, with visibility of the engraving and coloring through the paper.