An important vellum manuscript chart of the Dutch East India Company

A CARTOGRAPHICAL RARISSIMA OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY
by Prof. Dr. Günter Schilder
Chart of the Indian Ocean with the coasts of East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula,
Persian Gulf, India, South East Asia up to the western part of Java, part of the
west coast of Australia and the islands in the Indian Ocean. Middelburg:
Abraham Anias, ca. 1730.
Manuscript on vellum (calf), ink and various colors, c. 62.5 x 84 cm;
Duijtsche Mijlen 15 voor een Graedt [100=67 mm] (ill. 1).
A strip of the left and of the lower margin has been cut off because the chart has
once been used as a bookbinding.
Manuscript charts of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) are very rare. That a chart of the
Indian Ocean by Abraham Anias from the VOC Zeeland Chamber appears on the market may
be considered a truly exceptional event. This is all the more remarkable because so many of
the VOC’s original charts have either been lost or have long formed part of various public
map collections.
Despite being an anonymous chart, the characteristic depiction of the compass rose and the
style of the drawing and the lettering are unique for the work of Abraham Anias (1694-1750),
official examiner of the steersmen and chart-maker of the Zeeland Chamber of the VOC
(Nederlandse Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, i.e. Dutch United East India Company).
As proof serves a chart of the Ari-atol in the Maldives Islands, kept in the Amsterdam
University Library. That map is essential in the attribution of this chart to the cartographer,
because it combines this compass rose with the name of Abraham Anias (ill. 2).
.
The Zeeland Chamber was the second most important chamber in the VOC, after the
Amsterdam Chamber. In 1720 the Chamber of Zeeland appointed Anias as examiner of their
steersmen, a position he held for thirty years until his death in 1750. His instructions that were
issued on September 12, 1720 give insight in his responsibilities. .
Anias’ expertise and cartographical knowledge were highly respected by his contemporaries,
as demonstrated by a judgment of the famous chart-maker Johannes (II) van Keulen, who
attributed the large overview map in the fifth part of his Zee-Fakkel (Sea-Torch, 1728) to
Anias ‘tot een teeken van agting’ (‘as a sign of high esteem’), (ill. 3).
On October 1, 1731 the Zeeland Chamber officially appointed Abraham Anias as her official
chart-maker responsible to supply her ships with charts, books and navigational instruments
as specified in the new equipment list laid down in an official resolution by the Gentlemen
Seventeen (Heren XVII) on March 28, 1731, the “Lijste van de Kaarten en Stuurmansgereetschappen”.