Unrecorded state of Doncker's chart - photo 1

Unrecorded state of Doncker's chart

Lot 13
16.10.2020 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 50 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 411420
Lot 13 | Unrecorded state of Doncker's chart
Estimate value
$ 50 000 – 80 000
[DONCKER, Hendrik (1626-1699).] West-Indische Paskaert. Amsterdam: Pieter Goos and Gerard van Keulen, [1704-1726].

Large chart printed on vellum, an unrecorded state of one of the most important charts for navigating to America and the Cape of Good Hope. This large chart, first published by Hendrik Doncker in 1659, is based on Blaeu’s seminal map of the Atlantic of 1630, which was the earliest printed chart of the Atlantic and one of the earliest to show North America on Mercator’s projection. So influential was Blaeu's chart during the 17th century that several derivatives are known, but despite its popularity, only a few examples of each of the recorded iterations survive—most likely due to the fact that the majority were used aboard ship and therefore rarely survived. No other copy of this state of Doncker's map is recorded in institutional holdings.

The Doncker chart follows the outline of Blaeu's, with several alterations. Stadten Landt near Terra del Fuego now bears a complete coastline following Hendrick Brouwer's voyage of 1642-43; there are also two new insets, one to the upper right, showing the far east of the Mediterranean and the Levant, and the other in Africa, featuring a chart of the British Isles. A second state of the chart is recorded in the French Maritime Archives and the National Maritime Museum and includes the addition of the line "Saxsonburgh opgedaen door Willem Schellinger anno 1669" in the lower right portion of the Atlantic. The chart was later acquired sometime between 1669 and 1675 by Pieter Goos, whose name appears on the present example. It is unclear why Doncker decided to sell the chart, but it is known that he worked closely with both Goos's son Hendrick and Caspar Lootsman after Goos's death in 1675; it is conceivable that Doncker might have co-published the chart with Goos at some point before 1675. The copper plates for the work would later be acquired in 1693 by Johannes van Keulen, the leading chart maker of his day, along with the rest of Doncker's stock. Van Keulen had also bought the plates to Blaeu's "West-Indische Paskaert" at some point before 1680. The present map bears the imprint of both Goos and van Keulen's son, Gerard, who took over the business when his father retired in 1704, and shows several alterations from the 1669 second state. Doncker's imprint has been erased from the title cartouche, and Van Keulen's imprint added to the cartouche in Africa.

Two engraved parallel lines cross the Atlantic from northwest to southwest all the way from the Cape Verde Islands down to the equator and are marked "A" to "E." This is the "karrespoor" or "wagenspoor," literally the "cart-track," which marked the boundaries of the safest route through the Atlantic, a route that all Dutch East India men were advised to follow when sailing to the Cape of Good Hope and the East Indies. If the ship sailed east of the "cart-track" (line A-C), then she risked becoming becalmed in the Gulf of Guinea, and if she ventured too far west, past line D-E, she would enter the windless seas off the coast of Brazil. A smaller line marked "F" and "G," which protrudes from the line D-E, marks the safe outward bound course (i.e., Europe to the Cape of Good Hope), with the ships following the coast of South America before heading east across the Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope. Two legends appear in the sea off the west coast of France and Spain, respectively, providing information on hazardous reefs.

Engraved chart on vellum, 810 x 980mm. Some surface soiling and light staining, natural hole to vellum on left, corners thumbed with some abrasion to printed surface, mounting residue to verso edges. Provenance: Comte d'Aboville (docket dated 1900 on verso).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
01.10.2020 – 16.10.2020
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.