Sinus Gangeticus Vulgo Golfo De Bengala Nova descriptio

Circa 1636–1658

Original hand-coloured copper engraving on paper

Print size: 18.5 x 21.25 in (47.2 x 54.1 cm)
Sheet size: 19.25 x 23.25 in (49.1 x 59 cm)

Hondius–Janssonius after Blaeu — Sinus Gangeticus (Bay of Bengal): A Dutch Golden Age Chart of Eastern India

This large-format Dutch engraved chart presents a sweeping maritime vision of Eastern India and the Bay of Bengal, extending from the Ganges Delta and the Bengal coast across Arakan, Burma, and the broader trading sphere of maritime Southeast Asia. Structured as a sea chart, the composition is overlaid with a dense rhumb-line network radiating from multiple compass roses, underscoring its origins in VOC-era navigational and commercial cartography.

The plate derives from the influential Blaeu East Indies model of the early seventeenth century, later reissued within the Hondius–Janssonius atlas tradition, reflecting the competitive dynamics of Amsterdam’s Golden Age map trade. Coastlines, estuaries, and island groups are engraved with controlled precision, while period hand-colouring enhances regional legibility and visual hierarchy.

A richly ornamented baroque title cartouche, populated with allegorical and ethnographic figures, situates the map within the visual language of Dutch imperial print culture, in which geography, trade, and spectacle converged. Nautical vignettes and shipping motifs reinforce the map’s function as both a practical maritime reference and a statement of European commercial ambition in the Indian Ocean world.

Beyond its aesthetic presence, the map documents how Eastern India was conceptualised within early modern global trade networks, framing the Bay of Bengal as a critical corridor linking South Asia, Southeast Asia, and long-distance mercantile exchange. Its enduring desirability rests in its iconic Dutch lineage, visual authority, and centrality to the history of colonial maritime mapping.

NON-EXPORTABLE

This lot is offered at RESERVE

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