'A View of the Admiralty at Amsterdam, of the Store Houses, Wharfs and Docks belonging to it and to the East India Company of Holland'
Antique hand-coloured copper-engraved optical view / vue d’optique, 1753
A handsome mid-eighteenth-century vue d’optique of Amsterdam’s Admiralty buildings, storehouses, wharves and docks, explicitly linked in the title to the East India Company of Holland. The sheet is given added significance by its provenance from the estate of Rex Cowan, whose discoveries and salvage projects included the VOC treasure wrecks Hollandia, Prinses Maria and ’t Vliegend Hart. Cowan’s archive naturally embraced the whole VOC world: not only the wrecks themselves, but the ports, dockyards, warehouses and mercantile infrastructure that sent these heavily laden East Indiamen to sea. As an optical view it was intended for visual spectacle, but in this context it also reads as a collector-researcher’s image of the maritime system behind the treasure ships.
CAPTION BELOW PICTURE: 'A View of the Admiralty at Amsterdam, of the Store Houses, Wharfs and Docks belonging to it and to the East India Company of Holland'
DATE PRINTED: Dated April 10th 1752. Originally published 1753, with (probably slightly later) Paris Basset retail imprint
IMAGE SIZE: Approx 30.0 x 45.0cm, 11.75 x 17.5 inches (Large)
ARTIST/CARTOGRAPHER/ENGRAVER: After Peter van Ryne; Robert Sayer / Henry Overton issue; Paris Basset issue or retailer overprint
PROVENANCE: Separately issued optical view / vue d’optique from the 'Holland' series. London: printed for Robert Sayer, and Henry Overton, with later Paris imprint 'A Paris chez Basset, rue S. Jacques'; published according to Act of Parliament, 10 April 1752. Related to Robert Sayer’s catalogue "Two hundred and six perspective views adapted to the diagonal mirrour or optical pillar machine", London, 1753.
TYPE: Antique hand-coloured copper-engraved optical view / vue d’optique
VERSO: There is nothing printed on the reverse side, which is plain
CONDITION: Good; suitable for framing. Light spotting/toning. Professionally repaired marginal tears. Please check the scan for any blemishes prior to making your purchase. Please contact us if you would like to arrange to view this map. Virtually all antiquarian maps and prints are subject to some normal aging due to use and time which is not obtrusive unless otherwise stated. I offer a no questions asked return policy - see below.
AUTHENTICITY: This is an authentic historic print, published at the date stated above. I do not offer reproductions. It is not a modern copy. The term 'original' when applied to a print means that it was printed at the first or original date of publication; it does not imply that the item is unique. 'Print' means any image created by applying an inked block to paper or card under pressure by any method including wood engraving, steel engraving, copperplate, wood cut and lithography.
REMARKS: FRANCE: Gravures et Cartes anciennes. DEUTSCHLAND: Alte Lankarten und Stadt ansichten. ITALIA: Stampe e Mappe antiche. ESPAÑA: Mapas antiquos y impresiones antiguas. E and OE. Force Majeure. English law shall apply.
RETURNS POLICY: I offer a no questions returns policy. All I ask is that you pay return shipping and mail back to me in original condition, suitably packed & insured, within 14 days of receipt.