Gerard van Keulen – Antique Map of Indonesia
Insulae Iavae Pars Orientalis edente Hadriano Relando.
Amsterdam, Gerard van Keulen, c. 1728. Hand-colored copperplate engraving.
This fine chart by Gerard van Keulen, based on the scholarship of Hadrianus Relandus, depicts the eastern part of the island of Java together with the island of Madura, Bali, and the surrounding seas — all within the borders of modern-day Indonesia. The island itself bears the bold caption in Dutch “Het Ooster Deel van het Eyland Groot Java.” ”Richly detailed, the map shows towns, landscapes, and the territories of the Javanese kingdom of Mataram. The seas are filled with compass roses and rhumb lines, reflecting its use as a maritime chart.
Across the upper margin stretches a decorative panorama of the coastline with a mountain backdrop, ships, and figures, a distinctive feature of the van Keulen sea atlases. This sheet was originally issued as the eastern half of a two-sheet map of Java; the companion map (Pars Occidentalis) showed the western portion including Batavia (modern Jakarta). Many examples were bound singly in atlases, as here.
Mapmaker
The van Keulen family were the official hydrographers of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Gerard van Keulen (1678–1726) expanded the firm’s prominence in the early 18th century, issuing a wide range of nautical charts and atlases. The inclusion of Relandus’s geographic expertise underscores the blend of practical navigation and contemporary scholarship.
Condition
Hand-colored as issued. Light overall toning with slightly lighter shading along the original centerfold from atlas storage. Small abrasion or loss of pigment in the mountain vignette at top, and repairs on the back along the center as well as several small patches, such as seen on the lower left quadrant near the centerfold. Small tear in centerfold (see image at bottom). Sheet trimmed to the engraved neatline. Strong impression and attractive coloring.
The enlarged image below shows an example of one of several small patching repairs and reinforcement of center crease made at the back and along the centerfold, as well as the small hole in the centerfold (located near the three masted ship at center top if looking at map from the front.)
