A PORTOLAN MAP of the Mediterranean and Black Sea extending from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Eastern coast of the Black Sea with the PLACE NAMES IN GREEK. The delineation of the coast is remarkably accurate and topographically rich. Since there was little room for all the toponyms especially in the Dalmatian and Aegean islands, Cyprus, Corsica and other smaller islands a system of numbers keyed to tables on the map was introduced. This is an uncommon feature of portolans.

The outline of the coast is in brown tinted with green, the names of towns are in red or brown. The chart has several wind roses with 32 directions, one south of the Balearic Islands, a second in the Black Sea a third in Asia is decorated and several half roses along the margins some of which are ornate. Some of the islands are coloured including the Balearics and several in the Adriatic and Aegean Seas. There are two highly decorated scales present, one in North Africa and the other in the lower right corner. Running through the centre of the chart is a line of latitude numbered from 31 to 46 degrees. There are ten views of cities and unusually depictions of eight figures or sovereigns. The cities include Barcelona, Genoa and what appears to be Dubrovnik (Ragusa). The two European figures refer to the King of Castile and Aragon in the Iberian Peninsula, the other bears an eagle representing the German Emperor.

Numerous examples of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese portolans are to be found, so the lack of many in the Greek language from such a renowned sea-faring nation has always presented a challenge to historians. As recently as a little over 100 years ago Nordenskiold surmised in ‘Periplus’ that none existed. In 1947 Professor Armand Dellatte of Brussels University was able to reproduce a 16th century chart in the Bibliotheque National, Paris. This is signed Nicolas Bourdopoulos of Patmos. He went on to state ‘nous ne connsaissons acune carte de cette époque ou les noms sont indique en grec’. That chart bears a ruled border omitted here. That example is similar in style but lacks the figures present here. A second example has since been recorded in private archives in Volterra. It too is signed by the same author and dated 1608. In 1609 a Nicolas Vourdopolos of Patmos is a signatory of an act in the archives of the Monastery of Saint John. These appear to be all one and the same person. John Goodall studied the heraldry at some length without being able to conclude a more accurate date than c.1600 plus or minus a decade. This was also the conclusion of the British Library’s Greek expert Tom Patty courtesy of Helen Wallis.

Provenance: Roman Umiatowski catalogue 1966; Sotheby’s London 14 July 1970 lot 499 sold for £1000 to A. G. Bryce. Astengo, Corradino. (2007) ‘The Renaissance Chart Tradition in the Mediterranean’, in ‘The History of Cartography’ vol. 3 pp. 188 n.70 & 218; Delatte, Armand (1947) ‘Les Portulans Grecs’, in Bibliotheque de la Faculte de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Universite de Liege Fascicule CVII; Goodall, John (private correspondence 1991); Jourdin, Michel Mollat du & Ronciere, Monique de la. (1984). Sea Charts of the Early Explorers p. 244; Legrande, Em. Bibliogaphie Hellenique (1885-1906); Melas, Victor. (1989). ‘The Portolano of Zagora and Some Comments on the Greek Portolanos’, in IMCoS Journal 39 pp. 5-10, 33.