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The cartouche on this map of Asia is decorated with a colourful painting illustrating the region’s commerce, with Asian merchants displaying an assortment of goods, including jewellery, porcelain vessels and figurines, textiles and exotic animals.

Colourful hand-drawn portolan (nautical) navigation chart, featuring a rhumbline network (the web of interconnected lines), islands, shoals and reefs. With an elaborately decorated cartouche, scale and compass roses. Vellum on folding wood boards.

Colourful hand-drawn portolan (nautical) navigation chart, featuring a rhumbline network (the web of interconnected lines), islands, shoals and reefs. With elaborately decorated scales and compass roses. Mounted on folding wood boards.

The cartouche on this map of Asia is decorated with a detailed depiction of a European man negotiating with an Asian merchant to buy an assortment of Asian goods, including jewellery, porcelain vessels and figurines, and textiles.

The cartouche on this map of Asia is decorated with a detailed depiction of a European man negotiating with an Asian merchant to buy an assortment of Asian goods, including jewellery, porcelain vessels and figurines, and textiles.

A navigation map of the Banda Islands marked with bathymetry (sea depth), shoals and anchor points. On the island of Goenonghapy (Banda Api), a volcano erupts (‘api’ means ‘fire’ in Indonesian), and there is a military fort (‘Campa Nga’) on Nera.

The orientation of this map is unusual, with north to the right, so the west coast of Borneo is at the top. Its cartouche is decorated with drawings of seafaring people, and the scale with cherubs playing with cartography tools such as callipers.

French text on the reverse of this map describes the religion, languages, crops, trade etc. of Aracam and Pegu (Myanmar), Siam (Thailand), Cambaja (Cambodia). The map is dedicated to the Dutch merchant Christophoro Thisio.

A map of Asia decorated with colourful illustrations including two men in ‘eastern’ clothing, the Greek goddess Athena with a coat of arms and a knight in armour, and cherubs playing with cartography tools: a globe, compass, and pair of callipers.

This mid-17th century map of the Indian Ocean has a colourful cartouche illustrated with paintings of Asian merchants and warriors with bows and arrows. The scale is decorated with paintings of cherubs.

The orientation of this map is unusual, with north to the right, so the west coast of Borneo is at the top. Its cartouche is decorated with drawings of seafaring people, and the scale with cherubs playing with cartography tools such as callipers.

A map of the Java Sea between Java, Sumatra and Borneo. The web of lines is a rhumbline network, used to aid navigation. The cartouche and scale are decorated with paintings of Asian people and mythical creatures including cherubs.