Coastal Defence and Navigation Chart of Fujian and Guangdong Provinces

Fujian Guangdong Haifang Hanghaitu [Coastal Defence and Navigation Chart of Fujian and Guangdong Provinces]. China, early 19th century, 1800-1850.
Finely detailed manuscript map of the Pearl River estuary. The map uses simple lines and symbols to outline geographic representations, and draws on the form of traditional Chinese landscape paintings, using parallel (axonometric) projection. Mountains, settlements and fortifications are represented in a highly stylized pictorial fashion, but this, and the lack of a grid, does not mean the map is lacking for topographical and hydrographical detail, as the cartouches provide plenty of information about the water depths, distance mileage and the number of ships that can be accommodated in various harbours. References: Cordell D.K. Yee, ‘Reinterpreting Traditional Chinese Geographical Maps’ in The History of Cartography, Vol. II, Book 2, pp.61-64; see also: Zhu Wenyan, online review of Hong Kong maritime Museum’s exhibition "Paper Contains the Universe: From a Place in the Sky to a World in the Universe." See also: https://artouch.com/views/exhibition/content-12043.html
Manuscript map of the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong Provinces, ink and color on paper, texts in Chinese, handscroll mounted on silk with a blue protective silk flap at the end, approximately 322 x 4746 mm overall. No title on the map, place names and annotations written in cartouches with red outline and imperial yellow ground, with information about the water depth, distance mileage and the number of ships that can be accommodated in a port. Images along the lower margin of the opening section are painted upside down to mirror those in the upper half. (Paper toned with stains along the upper margin, especially the opening section; the roller at the head of the scroll, the silk flap protective wrapper and the area around the lower right corner of the opening section are lost; tears along the edges and cracks in the map; the back of the scroll with paper patches/reinforcements along the margins; the yellow background of many cartouches discolored).
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