Imperii Magni Mogolis sive Indici Padschach

Circa 1750

Original hand-coloured copper engraving on paper

Print size: 19.5 x 22.5 in (49.5 x 57 cm)
Sheet size: 21 x 24.75 in (53.5 x 63 cm)
Folded: 21 x 12.5 in (53.5 x 31.5 cm)

A richly embellished Augsburg engraving of the Mughal Empire at its greatest territorial expanse—Seutter’s Imperii Magni Mogolis, a decorative mid-18th-century interpretation of northern and western India

This handsome mid-eighteenth-century engraving by Matthäus Seutter presents a highly decorative and theatrical view of the Mughal Empire, published in Augsburg around 1750. The title "Imperii Magni Mogolis sive Indici Padschach” situates the map within European attempts to visualise the courtly and territorial grandeur of the “Great Mughal”, whose dominions stretched, in European understanding, from Kandahar in the west to Bengal in the east.

Although Seutter drew extensively upon Dutch cartographic precedents — including plates by de Wit, Janssonius, and Blaeu — the map also preserves several enduring geographical misconceptions characteristic of seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century European thought. Among these are the duplicated representation of Orissa, appearing as both Orixa and Udessa, reflecting parallel and sometimes conflicting knowledge traditions; the misplacement of Patna on a tributary rather than along the Ganges itself; and an inaccurately rendered course of the Ganges, shown flowing due north without its characteristic western deviation. Most notably, the map includes the mythical Lake Chiamay, long believed to be the source of Southeast Asia’s principal river systems — a speculative feature that persisted in European cartography well into the Enlightenment before being conclusively disproven.

These recurring geographical myths, highlighted in the earlier Mughal map, are equally applicable to Seutter’s cartography, which stands firmly within this tradition of embellished “imperial mapping”.

The map’s most striking features are its elaborate baroque cartouche, allegorical embellishments, and exquisitely applied wash colour. The highly decorative allegorical cartouche in the lower left-hand side quadrant depicts Poseidon, Hermes, an angel and the goddess Fame admiring the wealth of Asia, as represented by jewels, ivory and precious metals. In the upper left-hand quadrant, child angels are going through chests full of treasure while exotic birds look on. In the right-hand lower quadrant is a large trade ship resting in the Indian Ocean. As with the Augsburg school more broadly, Seutter emphasises visual spectacle, with powerful contrasts and a dramatic engraving style. This aesthetic quality made his sheets among the most commercially successful in German map publishing.

Seutter’s publication represents the German reception of the Mughal world at a time when Augsburg printers were avidly reproducing and adapting Dutch and French geographic material for Central European collectors.

Today, attractive Seutter examples of the Mughal Empire in original colour, clean condition and full margins remain desirable and relatively scarce.

NON-EXPORTABLE

This lot is offered at RESERVE

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