Close-ups
Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look, drawn to its real size; it is sold unframed unless the description says otherwise.
Towns and Landscapes
Antique Print of Batavia, Capital of the Dutch East Indies, Van der Aa, ca.1725
Batavia is now Jakarta.
$995
€890 · £745
Original print, not a reproduction
Ships worldwide from the Netherlands, insured and tracked. 14-day returns.
- Date
- 1725
- Sheet size
- 9.4 × 12 in (24 × 30.5 cm)
- Technique
- Paper,Engraved
- Condition
- Good. Condition Report: Good, unrestored antique impression on laid paper. Even age toning throughout. Light foxing/handling marks in margins. Sharp, dark impression, wide margins. No tears, folds, repairs, or losses. Verso blank.
- Island
- Java
- Place names
- Batavia is now Jakarta
- Collection
- Towns and Landscapes
- Period
- The Company, 1700 to 1799
- Stock no.
- f_41192532
What the condition grades mean
- Excellent
- Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
- Very good
- Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
- Good
- Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
- Fair
- Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Antique Print of Batavia, Capital of the Dutch East Indies, Van der Aa (c. 1725)
Antique engraving titled 'BATAVIA.' A finely engraved bird's-eye plan of the fortified city of Batavia (present-day Jakarta), the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Asia, set within an elaborate decorative border. The walled city is shown in typical Dutch cartographic style, with its grid of canals, bastions, and city blocks clearly laid out. The title cartouche, a simple banner reading "BATAVIA.", is flanked by hanging garlands of fruit and foliage. In the roadstead at lower left, VOC ships are shown firing salutes; at lower right, a caparisoned elephant carrying a local dignitary is led by native attendants, a decorative genre vignette typical of the exotic border imagery Van der Aa added to his reissues of earlier city plans.
This plate originates possibly from the exceptionally scarce La Galerie Agréable du Monde, published by Pieter van der Aa in Leiden, circa 1725, one of the largest and most lavish print compilations ever produced, issued in 66 parts and said to have been printed in only around 100 copies. For this ambitious project, Van der Aa incorporated older plates by earlier Dutch publishers such as Blaeu, de Wit, and Van Meurs, frequently adding his own broad decorative borders populated with figures, animals, and genre scenes evoking the exotic character of the lands depicted, a treatment clearly visible in the ships and elephant procession framing this view of Batavia. More research for this engraving is needed. No second copy found.
Artist: Pieter van der Aa (Leiden, 1659 to 1733) was a prolific Dutch publisher and bookseller, renowned for compiling and reissuing earlier cartographic and topographical works into elegant, richly decorated atlases and travel compilations.
Technique: Copperplate engraving on laid paper (watermark: crowned lion)
Framing tip: this piece would suit a slim dark wood or gilt frame with a wide cream conservation mat, using UV-filtering glazing to preserve the engraving's fine detail and original toning
