ALEXIS HUBERT JAILLOT & NICOLAS SANSON'S Folder World 1691.

“Mappe-Monde Geo-Hydrographique, ou Description Generale du Globe Terrestre et Aquatique en Deux Plans-Hemispheres”

This is the fourth plate of Sanson's and Jaillot's decorative world map in double hemisphere projection. It shows a complete picture of the Earth according to the 17th-century worldview.

Particularly interesting geographical features are California as an island, an unknown southern continent, as well as recent coastal observations in New Zealand, Australia and Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania).

Elaborately crafted allegorical cartouches are visible in the center top and bottom, with cherubs riding on dolphins—symbols of the dauphin of France, who at this time was Louis of France. He was destined to inherit the throne after his father, Louis XIV, but died of smallpox in 1711, four years before his father died.

Plate dimensions: 55 x 91.5 cm.
Frame dimensions: 68 x 103 cm.