EDWARD WELLS

An interesting map of Asia showing the extent of knowledge and political divisions in Classical times. The islands of Southeast Asia are devoid of any place names and are rudimentarily mapped. The continent is truncated without Korea or Kamchatka. Japan appears as two huge islands, Satyrotum Insula and Iabadii Ins. The title is engraved on a stone slab with numerous ancient coins.

Christoph Weigel (1654-1725) was a goldsmith, engraver, illustrator, and publisher in Nuremberg, Germany, where he produced many maps and atlases of both the ancient and the modern world. Of particular interest is the fact that all his maps were hand-colored immediately after they were printed in his publishing house. The majority of early map publishers issued their maps in black and white with later coloring added by outside artists and colorists. Weigel's Descriptio Orbis Antiqui is an atlas of classical maps, most of which incorporate medallions or coins relating to the region depicted in the map.