Descrittione Universale Della Terra Con L'Uso Del Navigare

A superb example of this rare and magnificent 10-sheet map of the World, first published on this scale by Matteo Florimi in Siena in 1600. A Belgian artist, who worked with Giovanni Magini in Italy, this extraordinary and beautiful map is among Arnoldi's few surviving works. Arnoldi's map is based upon Petrus Plancius' world map 'Nova et Exacta Terrarum Orbis Tabula Geographica Ac Hydrographica' of 1592, known in only one copy in Valencia.

At the time, Plancius was the official cartographer for the Dutch East India Company (VOC), a position that gave him unparalleled access to cutting edge geographical knowledge.  His special access is on display in the wall map, which, although based on Mercator’s map of 1569, also derived information from exceptionally closel -guarded Portuguese cartography in the form of a manuscript map by Pedro de Lemos. Arnoldi replicates the Plancius mapping without updating to account for the important explorations of the 1590s, although he did include scant modifications on the central and southern American Atlantic coast. The Americas, India, and some of the Far East are well rendered, while the Chinese coast and Japan are poorly understood.  Arnoldi has also done away with the southern polar projection inset, choosing only to show the four-part Arctic.