Striking and highly detailed map of China, colored by provinces, published by Seutter in Augsburg, circa 1730.
The map extends from southern China to Korea, which is shown as a peninsula and includes southern Japan and Taiwan.
The elaborate cartouch in the lower-right corner alludes to the maritime trade between China and Europe, as a queen, representing Europe, points to European vessels interacting with Chinese Junks. Other figures from Classical mythology, and two meant to represent Chinese rulers, surround it on the right.
Matthäus Seutter (1678-1757) was a prominent German mapmaker in the mid-eighteenth century. Initially apprenticed to a brewer, he trained as an engraver under Johann Baptist Homann in Nuremburg before setting up shop in his native Augsburg. In 1727 he was granted the title Imperial Geographer. His most famous work is Atlas Novus Sive Tabulae Geographicae, published in two volumes ca. 1730, although the majority of his maps are based on earlier work by other cartographers like the Homanns, Delisles, and de Fer.
Alternative spellings: Matthias Seutter, Mathaus Seutter, Matthaeus Seutter, Mattheus Seutter