Sold for £55,000 by Bonhams (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on June 14 was a newly discovered and very decorative portolan chart on vellum of the Mediterranean.
Centred on Sicily and produced in Messina, it is dated 1637 and was made by Placidus Caloiro et Oliva, a member of a distinguished Catalan family of mapmakers.
Though focusing on the Mediterranean and its bordering European and African lands, it does extend as far north as England.