Netherlands - North Brabant; Joan Blaeu (1596 – 1673) / Francisco van Schoten (1581 – 1645) - TABVLA Bergarum ad Zomam Stenbergae et novorum ibi operum - 1661-1680

Exceptional and spectacular 17th-century military map of the Water Line between Bergen op Zoom and Steenbergen, engraved on copper by the Blaeu workshops after surveys by Francisco van Schoten and beautifully hand-watercolored.

This extraordinary and exceptionally elegant map, conceived in a distinctly strategic and military style and titled in the oval cartouche “TABVLA Bergarum ad Zomam Stenbergae et novorum ibi operum,” is a masterpiece of 17th-century cartography, published in Amsterdam by the prestigious workshop of Joan Blaeu. The work is based entirely on the engineering surveys and fieldwork carried out by the celebrated professor and mathematician Francisco van Schoten, whose name is expressly honored in the cartouche itself. He was commissioned to map the imposing defensive inundation works designed to protect the United Provinces during the crucial phases of the Eighty Years’ War.
The composition unfolds in a fascinating panoramic, horizontal format, following the fortified system of the West-Brabantse Waterlinie, the oldest defensive water line in the Netherlands. On the right-hand side of the sheet, the city of Bergen op Zoom is shown with meticulous geometric precision, set behind its star-shaped bastions. From there, a fortified military canal runs between redoubts and hydraulic sluices, reaching the town of Steenbergen at the far left. The map documents the Dutch state-of-the-art technique of flooding the surrounding polders to halt the advance of enemy troops, showing the submerged land and the arrangement of the famous defensive strongholds, including the legendary Fort de Roovere. The decorative features include Baroque graphic scales, an inset map entitled “Castra Pinhi” in the lower-right corner, depicting a star-shaped fort and bearing the Blaeu imprint, and a bilingual explanatory panel in Latin and Dutch called “Explicatio Verborum,” which serves to decode the complex military nomenclature.

The example is in excellent overall condition. Printed on sturdy period paper with a watermark, it retains exceptionally fresh and elegant watercolor coloring, carefully applied to distinguish the canals, inundation basins, and wooded areas. The reverse of the sheet bears the original, comprehensive historical description in French, printed in two columns and entitled “Description de Bergen-sur-Zoom, Steenberge, & les nouveaux ouvrages qui y ont esté faits,” with the typographic characters and the HHHH signature typical of Joan Blaeu’s workshop. This text on the reverse confirms the piece’s authenticity and enables its precise dating, identifying the map as part of the monumental Atlas Maior (Le Grand Atlas), published in Amsterdam between 1663 and 1667. The sheet shows the normal central publisher’s fold, retains broad, sound margins, and is a highly important collector’s piece with exceptional decorative appeal for enthusiasts of the cartography of the Dutch Golden Age.

Dimensions: 48 x 58 cm
Will be shipped by courier.