CORONELLI, V.M. - Parte orientale della China.. / Parte occidentale della China (2 sheets)

The map depicts the eastern part of China with Korea -correctly- as a peninsula. Formosa is included as well. Japan is partly visible i.e. the area of Yamaguchi, strait Kammon and Fukuoka which is spelled as Fakata. At top left the sign of The Society of Jesus, underneath and at bottom on top of the cartouche navigational instruments are depicted.

The map is dedicated to Antonio Baldigiani (1647-1711), a Jesuit, and Professor of Mathematics at the Roman College, and from 1691 consultor to the Congregation of the Index, the church body responsible for examining books condemned by the Inqusition, and reporting their findings to the Pope, and in case of minor errors, providing editing advice for the book to allow publication. As such, he was an important, conciliatory, figure in the confrontation between Catholic doctrines and the new science propounded by Galileo and others.

Baldigiani, as with many fellow Jesuits, was greatly interested in China, and was an obvious choice as a dedicatee for this map. European contact with and knowledge of China to date was largely dependent on the work of successive generations of Jesuits, for example, the work of Martino de Martini to be found in this collection (see lot 54), among others.

Coronelli's map draws upon the maps and writings of several of these men, most notably Philippe Couplet, mentioned in the panel of text on the left, whose interest in China was first inspired by a lecture of Martini's, and who went on to become an important author on Chinese matters, and Procurator of the China Jesuits in Rome.The remarkable Vincenzo Coronelli (1650-1718), encyclopaedist, geographer, inventor and Doctor of Theology, was citizen of the Republic of Venice. He was also one of the most prominent mapmakers and publishers in Europe of his day.