Regno di Persia con le notitie delle Provincie Antiche, che più probabilmente corrispondono alle Divisioni moderne d'esso Regno

Cantelli da Vignola map of the Kingdom of Persia, incorporating modern day Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. The map is unusual in its depiction of an eastern border to the Persian empire, here bordering the Mogul Empire. The map overall is notable for Cantelli's attempt to reconcile conflicting classical information of what was an essentially unfamiliar region, with what was at the time up-to-date geographical data. Cantelli synthesizes a variety of travel accounts and early maps, including those of Pietro della Valle (1586 - 1652), and Adam Olearius (1603 - 1671). Throughout the map, contemporary place names are printed alongside historical names, or those used by other peoples: for example, the name for the Caspian Sea is given in Latin, as well as transliterated Russian and Arabic, from the local name.

Map taken from Mercurio geografico overo Guida Geografica in tutte le parti del Mondo conforme le Tavole Geografiche del Sansone Baudran de Cantelli Data in luce con direttione, e cura di Gio. Giacomo de Rossi nella sua stamperia collection of maps published in Rome between 1660 and 1730 by the typography De Rossi - the date of the maps goes from 1669 to 1715 - whose first edition is due to Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi. Over the years the atlas was enriched by an increasing number of maps in subsequent editions edited first by Domenico de Rossi and then by his son Filippo.

The Mercurio Geografico is a collection that brings together works by cartographers such as Michele Antonio Baudrand, Nicolas Sanson, Augustin Lubin, Filippo Titi, Giacomo Ameti, Giovanni Antonio Magini and Innocenzo Mattei, and which includes as its main "corpus" the great production of the geographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola. The maps are finely copied and engraved by the major engravers of the time including Falda, Widman, Barbey, Widman, Lhuillier, Donia, Mariotti. 

Cantelli was a geographer and cartographer, a native of Montorsello near Vignola; duties his humanistic studies in Bologna, in 1669, he entered the service of Marquis Obizzo da Ferrara there as secretary, then went to Venice and from there to Paris, where he formed relations with the leading French geographers of the time, Du Val, Nicola Sanson and especially Michel Antoine Baudrand, with whom he then remained in constant correspondence. Returning to Bologna, he was for long years secretary to Rinieri Marescotti; but, around 1675 or shortly thereafter, he went, perhaps several times, to Rome, and entered into relations with the famous De Rossi cartographic workshop, which then published most of his maps. By this time his reputation as a cartographer had been established, so much so that he was called upon by both Pope Innocent XI and the Duke of Modena and Reggio Francesco II d'Este, both of whom wanted him as their official cartographer. He chose the court of Francesco II, and in November 1685 he was appointed court geographer. From 1686 to 1689 he executed numerous maps of European countries and territories. He constructed by his own hand a world map and a celestial globe, which remained on display for some time in the atrium of the Biblioteca Estense in Modena. He died in Modena on November 30, 1695. Almost all the maps were included in the Mercurio Geografico, the well-known atlas published in Rome by the De Rossi family. The first edition of the Mercurio Geografico published 19 of his maps, along with others by Sanson and Baudrand. A two-volume second edition came out in 1692, which contained work he had done (88 maps, engraved by Antonio Barbey).

Copper engraving, in good condition.

Literature

cfr. R. Almagià, Studi storici di cartografia napoletana, in “Archivio storico per le province napoletane”, 38 (1913), p. 645; A. Bonazzi, Il Mercurio geografico: il gioco e la differenza, in “Giacomo Cantelli: geografo del Serenissimo”, Bologna, 1995, p. 37-44 e 150-152; Bagrow 268; Phillips I 254-255; Shirley BL I, pp. 868-874.