Peninsula Indiae citra Gangem, hoc est, Orae celeberrimae Malabar & Coromandel Cum adjacent Insula non minus celebratissima Ceylon Secundum prototypon Del‘ Islianum edita, insuperqs novissimis Observationibus correcta, et notates, quae cuivis genti
1733
Hand-coloured copper engraving on paper
Print size: 22.5 x 20 in (57 x 50.5 cm)
Sheet size: 25 x 21 in (63.5 x 53.5 cm)
Full Title: Peninsula Indiae citra Gangem, hoc est, Orae celeberrimae Malabar & Coromandel Cum adjacent Insula non minus celebratissima Ceylon Secundum prototypon Del' Islianum edita, insuperqs novissimis Observationibus correcta, et notates, quae cuivis genti Europaeae possidentur, terries et emporys, aucta, studio. Homannianorum Heredum Noriv. MDCCXXXIII Cum Privilegio S.C.M.
One of the most important early-eighteenth-century maps of Southern India, vividly documenting the European trading posts along the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, with Homann’s celebrated exotic cartouche derived from Baldaeus
Johann Baptist Homann’s striking 1733 map of peninsular India belongs to a small but influential group of early German engravings that helped shape the European geographic imagination of the region before the ascendancy of French scientific cartography. Issued in Atlantis Geographica Major, the map brings together contemporary Dutch, German and French sources, while offering an unusually rich visual account of coastal settlements, political boundaries and the expanding footprint of European mercantile power across southern India.
The engraving presents a sweeping view of the peninsula, extending from Goa and the Konkan coast in the west, southwards through Malabar, across the interior regions of Mysore and the Carnatic, and onward along the Coromandel coast to Fort St George (Madras), Pondicherry, Nagapattinam and Pulicat. It reflects a period when southern India stood at the centre of one of the most fiercely contested arenas of global commerce, as English, Dutch, French, Danish and Portuguese interests competed for control of textile production, pepper supplies and maritime trade routes. The coastal zones are rendered with particular precision, and Homann’s careful identification of more than twenty fortified European establishments—marked with national flags of England, Denmark, France, Holland and Portugal—forms a remarkable visual index of early modern power relations along the Indian Ocean rim.
One of the map’s most celebrated features is its elaborate cartouche, positioned in the lower left corner and adapted from the 1672 title page of Philippus Baldaeus’s Naauwkeurige beschryvinge van Malabar en Choromandel. This theatrical composition stages India as an exotic marketplace, populated by Arab merchants and African attendants examining ivory, jewels, pearls, coir rope and fruit, while a richly attired trader reclines beside two pet cheetahs and an armoured soldier mounted on an elephant presides over the scene. This blend of commerce, spectacle and fantasy encapsulates the visual rhetoric through which European audiences of the early Enlightenment were encouraged to imagine southern India.
Beyond its decorative elements, the map offers substantial topographical and political detail. The interior landscape is structured through river systems, hill ranges and inland towns, with particular emphasis on the Western Ghats, the Mysorean plateau and the political divisions of the Deccan. Although it does not constitute a land survey in the modern sense, the engraving stands as one of the most informative German representations of the region produced before the methodological reforms of d’Anville introduced new standards of cartographic precision.
Homann’s position as Imperial Cartographer to the Holy Roman Emperor from 1715 lent his work exceptional authority and reach. His atlases, characterised by bold engraving, assertive decorative language and wide circulation, played a significant role in shaping European perceptions of India well into the mid-eighteenth century. Valued as much for their artistic and cultural resonance as for their geographic content, Homann’s maps reflect the manner in which the subcontinent was staged for European consumption during the high tide of maritime trade. The 1733 map of peninsular India stands among the most compelling examples of this tradition, uniting political geography, coastal mercantile mapping and exuberant baroque illustration into a single, highly influential image.
Johann Baptist Homann (1664–1724)
Founder of the Homann cartographic dynasty and one of the most prolific map engravers of the eighteenth century. His Nuremberg workshop became one of Europe’s leading map-publishing houses, producing atlases distinguished by crisp engraving, vivid hand-colouring and ornate allegorical cartouches. Appointed Imperial Geographer in 1715 and elected to the Prussian Academy of Sciences the same year, Homann gained privileged access to state geographic intelligence.
His atlases, characterised by bold engraving, assertive decorative language and wide circulation, played a significant role in shaping European perceptions of India well into the mid-eighteenth century. Valued as much for their artistic and cultural resonance as for their geographic content, Homann’s maps reflect the manner in which the subcontinent was staged for European consumption during the high tide of maritime trade.
NON-EXPORTABLE
This lot is offered at RESERVE
This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each lot.