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Lot description
Etching and engraving, 426 x 614 mm. Title within a ribbon held up by a winged cherub at the top right. Halfway up, near the left margin, a drape is held up by another winged cherub with the inscription: “Reader / If on this map / you do not see all the / small places outlined, know that / the intention has been / to place for now / the most important ones before your eyes, / with the Roads, and Rivers, / to then give you a glimpse / in another, more detailed / drawing that (sic), / which is missing at present, / and is happy to see” followed by the “Scale of Twenty Italian Miles”. In the lower right corner stands an elaborate Baroque-style cartouche, decorated with various types of coats of arms, which frames a drape held up by two putti bearing the dedication inscription: “To Your Most Illustrious and Excellency, Prince Col. Mo / Mr. Pirro Visconte Borromeo Arese, Count of the / Pieue di Trebbia of the Secret Council of His Majesty / and his General Commissioner of the Army of the State / of Milan, Lombardy, Piedmont &c. / During the time that I am serving in Your Excellency's office, I have had the opportunity, / on the occasion of the Commissions granted to me by Your Excellency, to carefully recognize / the Provinces, Places, Sites, and Rivers with their Borders of this / State. They are to be outlined in this Map, which I present, or rather return to / Your Excellency as yours. I hope to meet with generous approval, and / I bow deeply. Milan, August 28 1703. / Of Your Excellency / Your Most Humble God, and most obligatory Servant / Giulio Carlo Frattino”. Above the banner stands the Visconti coat of arms with the “biscione”, symbol of Milan, surmounted by a county crown. The paper is covered in canvas and enclosed in an elegant contemporary case.