(Wall map) L'Asie Dressée sur les Nouvelles Observations..

A rare Nolin wall map of the continent of Asia, composed from four joined sheets surrounded by text and vignettes printed on separate sheets.
Published in Paris and dated 1740: Chez J.B. Nollin le Fils Geografe sur le Quay de l'Horloge du Palais a l'Enseigne de la Place des Victoires entre le Rue de Harlay et le Pont Neuf.

Magnificent both in size and in the fine detail of its etching. Surrounding the map in a finely executed etching by the painter Nicolas Bocquet is in a border panel by 30 vignettes at the top and sides depicting Greek, Roman, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Asian history. Each vignette is set within an elaborate baroque frame of a unique design. The text along the lower margin is entitled Description Geographique de l'Asie.
The Mariana Islands in the eastern Pacific are shown according to the account of the Jesuit Father Paul Clain, but at upper right is a large inset map showing an alternative rendering of the Marianas, or Nouvelles Philippines, based upon a Jesuit relation of 1697.
Showing the Spanish route from Manila to the Ladrones or the Mariannes. Northeast of Japan, a large landmass called "Partie de l'Amerique."

Nolin's map was produced at the junction of the decline in the importance of the Dutch dominance of world exploration and cartography and the emergence of British and French exploration and cartography. The map consequently provides a fitting bridge between the two eras.
Jean-Baptiste Nolin (1657-1725) and his son, also named Jean-Baptiste (d. 1762), were renowned French cartographers. In 1700, the elder issued a fine large twin hemispheres wall map engraved on four joined sheets. Around 1740, the younger Nolin issued a set of continental wall maps.