DESCRIPTION: Scarce engraving of the port of Rode (Rhodes), Greece decorated with a bat-form title cartouche, a square-rigged warship, and three galleys. References on the plan to the 'Grand Master' and 'Sultan Suleiman' suggest that the map was intended to illustrate the Siege of Rhodes in 1522 when the Knights of Rhodes were defeated and driven out by the Ottomans. That order later became known as the 'Knights of Malta' after they established residence on the island of Malta in 1530.
We cannot locate an identical copy of this anonymous work anywhere on-line but the topographic details are nearly identical to those in a map by Dapper from 1687. This example probably dates from a period between 1650 - 1675 because this map contains more explanatory detail (in French) than Dapper's map and the strapwork cartouche points to an earlier style.
Numerous geographic descriptions include: the palace of the Grand Master; port des galeres; Tour de St. Jean; port des vaisseaux; the old walled village of Rhodes, and two long breakwaters, each protected by a tower at the end. Strapwork mileage scale.
The illustration and quotation on this trade card were not unique to John Cosgrove but rather part of a stock design widely used by 19th-century printers who specialized in producing humorous or sentimental advertising cards. Lithographers commonly kept catalogs of ready-made comic scenes—like this seaside mother-and-child vignette with the line “It’s a wise child that knows its own mother at the sea side”—which merchants could customize by adding their own business imprint below. In this case, the printer simply inserted Cosgrove’s name, trade description, and Poydras Market address into the blank advertising panel at the bottom, allowing a small New Orleans fish dealer to benefit from professionally printed imagery at a fraction of the cost of commissioning original artwork.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1675
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Greece
BODY OF WATER: Aegean
CONDITION: Good
On medium-weight chain-laid paper. Two vertical folds and one horizontal fold. Margins short at bottom and right. Small repaired tear at bottom.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER: Unknown
SIZE: 11
" x
8 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 2
PRICE: $950
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