World antique map - David Funcke

Novissima & exactissima totius orbis Terrarum Tabula
Funcke, David/Hooghe, Romeijn de
Hand coloured copper engraving from the “Atlas … Maritimus Ofte Zee Atlas…”. Published in Nuremberg c. 1700. Size: 48 x 55 cm.

David Funcke was a Nuremberg publisher, who commissioned works from Homann. This attractive and ingenious map however derives from a work by Romeyn de Hooghe – one of the most accomplished Dutch artists of the second half of the 17th century – that appeared in Frederick de Wit's Atlas. The marginal decoration in this work depicting the four elements of Classical philosophy portrays Fire as a military battle; Air as the heavens ruled by the Zodiac and serenaded by Apollo; Earth as a field being harvested and husbandry; and Water, a sea with Dutch ships and a sputing whale. There are Greek gods presiding from the sidelines of all these scenes: Zeus, Hera, Hades, Persephone, Demeter and Poseidon.

The map has two large hemispheres and two smaller, polar hemispheres. There is an outline of an Antarctic continent, which De Wit had left blank.

Reference: Shirley 616 (and 444), plate 327.

Price: €9.000,- (incl. frame, excl. VAT/BTW)