Tabula XI Asiae

Description

copper engraving, verso text headlined “Tabula XI Asiae”, with extensive geographical descriptions, VERY RARE.
This example of the important map is from the early 1525 edition published in Strassburg.
Laurent Fries’ version of Ptolemy’s eleventh map of Asia, covering the “southeastern corner” of the known world. The map shows “India beyond the Ganges” and covers the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, prominently showing the Malaysian Peninsula or the Golden Chersonese as the Greeks called it.
Fries’ map is a reduced copy of Waldseemüller’s eleventh Ptolemy map of Asia, with the Malaysian peninsula, the islands of Maniolae (by some identified with Manila), and the legendary huge sea port of Cattigara, possibly corresponding to Canton. It is these furthest places in the Far East that the Greek merchants visited for trading. The woodcut decorations on verso are attributed to Albrecht Dürer, who also made the famous woodcut print of the armillary sphere in this atlas.