Matching set of four wallmaps of America, Asia, America, Europe.

Amerique Septentrionale et Meridionale Divisée en ses pricipaux et subdivisée par audience Dressée sur les Memoires les plus recens et assujetie aux dernieres Observations Astronomiques par le PER et LC Desnos, Geographes Ingenieur pour les Globes et Spheres, rue St Jacques du Globe 1760. With a large "Mer de L'Ouest" or "Sea of the West". Some minor paper loss in upper left corner and in upper center part.
Donald L. McGuirk in The Last Great Cartographic Myth Mer de l'Ouest (map 84) classifies the map as Rare and list four states of the map, dated 1760, 1770, 1772 and 1781.
Mer de l'Ouest labeled, "La Pretendue Mer de l'Ouest". Title is in cartouche, lower left. There is a second title across the top of the map, "AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE ET MERIDIONALE/ DIVISÉE EN SES PRINCIPAUX ET SUBDIVISÉE PAR AUDIENCE/...".

L'Asie dressée selon l'étendue de ses principales parties. . .
Surrounded by magnificent vignettes showing the different people of Asia. Each panel is accompanied by descriptive text about China, Japan, Tunquin, Siam, Malaysia, Georgie, Armenian, Emirates, India, Arabia, Moluccas, and Turkish traders.
The great Jesuit surveys of China and the Far East revealed by d'Anville in his Nouvel Atlas de la Chine (1737) must also here have provided important sources of geographical materials. D'Anville rejected de Vries' assumption that the coastline of Sakhalin was continuous with that of Hokkaido.
The wall map is of interest for the use of Mer de Corée
L'Afrique, Divisée selon l'étendue de ses principales parties et dont les points principaux sont placez sur les observations des mes rs de l'academie Royale des Sciences. / Dedié à Monseigneur Le Dauphin par son tres humble tres obeissant serviteur Desnos Geographes Ingenieur pour les Globes et Spheres 1760.

L'Europe. Tous les Points principaux font placés sur les observations de Mrs de l'Academie Royale des Sciences en 1761.

Wall map hangs beside the finest paintings in the offices of prosperous merchants, in the halls of government and the homes of the wealthy. See, for example, the paintings of Vermeer, where wall maps appear in various settings. This work's ornamentation exceeds the pictorial richness usually achieved on a map. As often with wall maps have suffered more than atlas maps and have the usual small repairs of splits and missing areas. This matching set of 4 continent wall maps has some paper browning but is generally in good condition and still in its original outline color.

These wall maps represent the peak of French decorative cartography in the eighteenth century.

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