Beschreibung:

OGATA GAIKI after Matteo Ricci [ World map, in Chinese, Zhifang waiji tu chuo ]. Japan: c.1800 Manuscript map of the world, ink and colours on japanese paper sheets, mounted to form three panels, each panel 1580 x 1180mm. The map following the exact form of Ricci with some geograghical names and texts in Japanese. (Laid down on thick paper, some old worm damage retouched.) Each panel with cloth extensions, and wooden rollers, 20th century ties to upper rollers. A very rare and extraordinary manuscript copy of Matteo Ricci's famous world map Kunyu Wanguo Quantu of 1602, this Japanese version probably drawn up in the early Nineteenth century, the image being directly traced over a copy of the Ricci. The author who copied the Ricci original made a number of changes, omitting the archaic ptolemaic world view at the upper right corner and substituting a different japanese text, but has generally been very faithful to the original. He was unfortunately unable to interpret the Jesuit symbol which has a convoluted form at the lower right corner. The map has been restored and mounted in the early part of the last century to be presented as a magnificent wall hanging. Of the original Ricci map of 1602, only 4 or possibly 5 copies have survived. Whilst the Ricci 1602 map became the basis for all 'European-style' world mapping in Japan from the 16th century onwards, they tended to be interpreted rather than copied, as with this example. The map shows the remarkable importance of Jesuit chinese mapping on Japanese views of the wider world.