Seconde Partie De la Carte d’Asie Contenant la Chine et partie de la Tartarie, L’Inde au dela du Gange, Les Isles Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Moluques, Philippines et Japon.

A monumental c.18th hand coloured engraved map of eastern Asia, extending from the Caspian region and Siberia across Mongolia and China to Japan and the Pacific, and southwards from India beyond the Ganges through the East Indies, including Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Moluccas, the Philippines and Timor.

China is depicted in exceptional detail, with numerous provinces, towns, villages, rivers, mountain ranges and administrative divisions, reflecting the extensive geographical information derived from the Jesuit surveys undertaken in China during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor. Korea and Japan are prominently represented, while the treatment of Southeast Asia becomes progressively less certain, with parts of Borneo, Sulawesi and New Guinea remaining conjectural. The northern coast of Australia appears as the indistinct Terre du Sud, illustrating the limits of European geographical knowledge of the region at the time.  D’Anville’s map represents a major advance in the cartography of eastern Asia. His depiction of China was based upon Chinese geographical materials and the surveys undertaken by Jesuit missionaries, while his representation of Japan incorporated Dutch and other contemporary sources. The Philippines drew substantially upon Pedro Murillo Velarde’s 1734 map, while information concerning Java and the East Indies derived in part from Dutch East India Company sources.

The varying degrees of precision across the map consequently provide an important record of both the considerable advances and remaining uncertainties in European geographical knowledge of Asia during the mid-18th century.  Engraved by Guillaume de la Haye, the map was published in 1752 as the second part of d’Anville’s Carte d’Asie. Issued on two sheets intended to be joined, its great size allowed d’Anville to present China, Japan and the East Indies in considerable geographical detail. It is among the most important large-scale maps of eastern Asia published in the 18th century and reflects d’Anville’s characteristic preference for critically assessed geographical information over the speculative geography found on many earlier maps.