Chinese World Map

Date1602-1629

Mediumwatercolor on paper

Dimensions62 1/4 × 24 1/4 in. (158.1 × 61.6 cm)

Donor credit lineKendall Whaling Museum Collection Transfer

Object number2001.100.4531

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionPolychrome ink and watercolor map of the known world in a series of panels. The map is embellished with depictions of sea monsters, European ships and animals. Ming Dynasty period. Framed and matted (with a red matte) under glass.

Section panel, the third of six, of an illustrated manuscript version of the Mappa Mundo world map, with additions to and elaborations upon the original collaboration of Li Zhizao [Li Chih-tsao] and Matteo Ricci, S.J. (1552-1610). Li Zizhao collaborated with Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit scholar and missionary to China, in creating this "Mappa Mundi" in a Chinese version. Label TextThis "mappa mundi" (world map) is a fascinating glimpse of the known world in the early 17th century. The map converges style and information from Western and Eastern cartographic sources. The sea creatures and Portuguese ships are likely derived from maps and charts that Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci brought to China.

This is the third panels in a series of six manuscripts comprising a Ming Dynasty illustrated world map. Oriented with North at the top, it includes European decorative elements but also geographical content that is distinctly Eastern, in that some locales depicted were unknown in Europe at this time. The whales range from a scaly creature with a double blow hole to a lumpy monster, but each have recognizable ties to the 16th century European depictions of whales.ProvenanceHurst & Hurst Gallery to Kendall Whaling Museum, 1986; New Bedford Whaling Museum, 2001

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