Nuova Carta dell’Impero del Gran Mogol

Circa 1740

Copper engraving on paper

12.25 x 15 in (31 x 38 cm)

A fine mid-18th-century Italian-issue impression of Tirion’s map of the Mughal Empire — a clear, elegant, and unusually scarce Venetian variant of the Dutch plate

This map, titled holds its presence in the sequence of Mughal cartographies—between Cellarius’s 1703 Oriens Persia, India and Blondeau’s Indoustan ou Indes—firmly situates the map within the mid-eighteenth-century European tradition of mapping the Mughal realm.

Tirion, one of the leading Amsterdam publishers of the period, was known for his crisp line engraving, clean typography, and restrained, uncluttered geographical style. Many of his maps were issued both in Dutch atlases and in foreign-language adaptations, including Italian editions such as the present one, which circulated widely in Venice due to the intense Italian appetite for travel literature and global geography in the 1730–1760 period.

Although the map does not supply additional textual description, the contextual information included regarding Mughal cartographic conventions applies directly to Tirion’s synthesis. Notably, as seen in the map of de Wit Magni Mogolis sive Indici Padschach, juxta recentiissimas Navigationes accurata delineato Geographica studio et sumtibus.

European maps of the Mughal Empire of this era were frequently reproduced:
• Duplicated Orissa (Orixa / Udessa)
• Patna incorrectly placed on a tributary of the Ganges
• The Ganges shown running northward without its characteristic bend
• Lake Chiamay, the fictitious hydrological hub of Southeast Asia

These features are not only present in de Wit but are also characteristic of mid-18th-century derivative cartographies, including those issued by Tirion and his Italian collaborators. Tirion’s strength lay in reorganising this inherited geographical knowledge into elegantly structured, visually balanced plates.

As a Venetian-issue plate, the present map is particularly interesting for its cross-cultural production history: Dutch geographical intelligence reframed through Italian editorial taste. Maps of the Mughal Empire published in Venice tended to be printed in smaller numbers and are encountered less frequently in the market today.

NON-EXPORTABLE

This lot is offered at NO 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.