Belgium - Mechelen (Malines)

Rare and exquisite miniature seventeenth-century geographic map, literally titled "LA SEIGNEURIE DE MALINES 1692". This refined copper-engraved print describes in painstaking chorographic detail the historic territory of the Lordship of Malines (modern Mechelen, in Belgium), an autonomous enclave endowed with important feudal privileges situated within the Duchy of Brabant. The work precisely shows the dense network of villages, parishes, waterways and forests that surrounded the fortified city of Malines, extending to the borders with Flanders and the surrounding areas. In the bottom left corner lies an elegant and dramatic cartouche in the shape of a stone monument, upon which rests a reclining allegorical river figure next to a heraldic lion, enclosing the title and the original dating of the plate (1692). Printed on contemporary laid paper of the period, the sheet bears in the upper right the editorial plate number "114" and is framed by a thin graduated border with the cardinal points expressed in Latin. A small masterpiece of seventeenth-century micro-cartography, of great rarity and collectible charm for enthusiasts of Flemish and historical Dutch history. Dimensions 23 x 34 cm Will be shipped by courier

Estimate:£5.93

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