Portolan Atlas

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Autore: Battista Agnese

Anno: 1544 ca

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Battista Agnese
Portolan Atlas
Italy, ca. 1544
World atlas containing 11 nautical charts, table of declinations, etc.:
1. f. 2v: Table of declinations; 2. f. 3: Armillary sphere; 3. ff. 3v-4: Zodiac; 4. ff. 4v-5: Pacific Ocean with portions of North America, South America, Asia, and East Indies 5. ff. 5v-6: Atlantic Ocean with portions of North America, South America, Europe, and Africa; 6. ff. 6v-7: Indian Ocean, Africa, and southern Asia; 7. ff. 7v-8: British Isles and central Europe; 8. ff. 8v-9: Iberian peninsula and northwest Africa; 9. ff. 9v-10: Western Mediterranean; 10. ff. 10v-11: Central Mediterranean and Italy; 11. ff. 11v-12: Eastern Mediterranean area and Aegean Sea; 12. ff. 12v-13: Black Sea: 13. ff. 13v-14: Oval map of the world (showing 2 routes: from Spain to Peru, and around the world via the Moluccas); 14. ff. 14v-15: Atlantic hemisphere with Antarctic continent (incomplete)
Parchment, ff. ii + 14 (13 sheets folded in center and pasted back to back) + i; 242 × 171 mm. (map size, 193 × 295 mm. on double page openings). Bifolia attached sequentially. Single gold ruled borders. Modern pencilled foliation.
Black and red ink for nomenclature in a minuscule script with square capitals as display script; land masses outlined in blue ink with islands painted gold, green, or red; each chart has one simple compass rose with usual 32 rhumb line network in black, red, and green ink for the principal directions; latitude and longitude marked by numbers on charts ff. 4v-5, 5v-6, and 6v-7 only; distance indicated by a series of dots, or dots and circles, placed diagonally in one corner of each chart (omitted on ff. 12v-13). No decoration except on ff. 4v-5 (forest), 5v-6 (forest and vignette of Mexico City), 6v-7 (8 wind-heads), and 13v-14 (vignette of Mexico City, mountains, rivers, and 12 wind-heads).

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