A RARE JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINT MAP OF THE WORLD BY HARAME SADAKIYO (ACT. 18TH CENTURY)

A RARE JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINT MAP OF THE WORLD BY HARAME SADAKIYO (ACT. 18TH CENTURY)

EDO PERIOD, DATED 1720

Entitled Yochi zu or Yochi no zu (Picture of the World), depicting Europe, Asia and Africa on the left-hand side and the Americas to the right, with hand-coloured details later added in watercolour, together with a modern protective cover, 73.5cm x 147cm. (2)

This map is based on an original design by Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), a famous Jesuit and polymath who was the first Westerner to translate the works of Confucius and to be admitted into the Forbidden City.