Danish Islands Map 1695 Danckerts Zealand Funen Print - Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Copenhagen

This rare map of the principal Danish islands, titled Insularum Danicarum, was made by Justus Danckerts in Amsterdam around 1695, and it is a fine example in full original color. It shows Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster, Langeland and Mon, along with numerous smaller islands in the Baltic Sea. Each island is divided into vividly hand-colored districts, with coastal profiles, soundings and place-names set out with the clarity typical of the Danckerts firm, and the sheet is a good study of the archipelago that forms the heart of Denmark. The sheet is a clear and handsome study of an archipelago, and the vivid hand coloring of each island district makes it easy to enjoy from across a room.

Major towns appear prominently, including Copenhagen, Roskilde, Elsinore, Nyborg, Odense, Svendborg, Nakskov, Nykobing and Stege, together with the waterways of the Great Belt, the Little Belt and the Oresund. The engraving shows the insular heartland of Denmark in the late seventeenth century and stresses the routes that joined the Baltic and the North Sea. An elegant title panel and a small compass rose add decoration. Justus Danckerts lived from 1635 to 1701 and was a book and print publisher in Amsterdam, part of a Dutch family of engravers and geographers.

A collector of Dutch Golden Age maps, a family with roots in Zealand, Funen or Copenhagen, or a sailor fond of the Baltic will find a rare gift here. TheMapVault's Visscher map of the kingdom of Denmark, dated about 1690, shows the whole country, whereas this Danckerts sheet is given to the islands alone. Like every print in the collection, it ships unframed and is available in a full range of sizes, from a compact desk piece to a large-format statement print. It would suit a study, a hall or a library. The map is a good fit for a collector of Danish history.