Wall Map of the World By Cornelis Danckerts Wrapping Paper

Old colour example of this unrecorded 4-sheet wall map of the World, published in Amsterdam by Cornelis Danckets. The present example is an extraordinary survival, being the earliest surviving state of a wall map previously believed to have only survived in a single late state by Johannes Van Keulen, but posited by Rodney Shirley to have existed in earlier states. The survival is made all the more remarkable by the extraordinary bold original colour in which the map survived, as most 17th-century wall maps typically have severally faded or broken colour remnants. The map includes a dedication portrait to Prince Wilhelm III, which would seem to be an erroneous spelling for Prince Wilhem Hendrik of Orange, better known as William of Orange (the family coming from Dillenburg in Nassau, Germany). The Prince of Orange from birth, Wilhem Hendrik would become King of England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1689 until his death in 1702.