A Map & History of Peiping formerly…Peking—Frank Dorn—Beijing pictorial map 1936
£1,260
SKU: P-6-111082
'A Map and History of Peiping, formerly known as Peking; capital of provinces, princedoms, and kingdoms since 1121 B.C.; in 1264 A.D. the capital of the Mongol Empire of Kublai Khan; made the capital of the Ming Empire and built as it is today by Yung Lo in 1421; continued as the capital of the Chinese Empire through the Ming and Ching Dynasties; and now a city which will live long in the memory of man as one of the greatest the world has ever known. Completed on this fifth day of February in the year of our Lord Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-six.'
A finely executed and highly detailed pictorial map of Peiping (now Beijing), widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of 20th-century pictorial cartography. The map presents the city as it stood in the late Republican period, combining accurate topography with dense ethnographic, architectural, and historical illustration. Streets, gates, temples, palaces, markets, and residential quarters are shown in plan, animated with scenes of daily life, trades, ceremonies, and court ritual. The border is ringed with a sequence of cartoon vignettes illustrating the history of the city from antiquity to 1936, from early dynasties through the Mongol capital of Kublai Khan, the Ming rebuilding under Yung Lo, and the Qing period. The central title cartouche sets out the city’s long imperial history in full, asserting Peiping’s place among the world’s great capitals. This example includes the Nazi flag in the Legation Quarter in place of the earlier German merchant flag, and an updated Kuomintang flag. Dorn, an artist, writer, and U.S. Army officer, was strongly influenced by the pictorial maps of Jo Mora, combining bright colour, visual wit, and meticulous research. Issued with an explanatory booklet, the map is both decorative and scholarly, and is generally considered the most iconic pictorial map of Beijing ever produced.
Size 86 x 75 cm | 34.0 x 29.5 inches
Date Published: 1936
Type: Antique folding pictorial colour city plan, together with its original explanatory booklet
Author: Dorn, Frank
Publication: A Map and History of Peiping
Condition: Good |
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