国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

GRISELLINI AND THE WALL-MAPS IN SALA DELLO SCUDO.

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his map marks an enormous improvement if compared with those of his predecessors.

In this connection the famous Wall-Maps in the Sala dello Scudo, in the Doge's Palace at Venice cannot be passed by with silence. At least one of them, embracing the whole eastern half of Asia, and part of America, is of special interest to us. The four maps were drawn by Giacomo Gastaldi in the middle of the sixteenth century in place of the older maps which had been destroyed by fire in 1483. The map of East Asia is, beyond doubt, a work of Gastaldi. All four maps were restored by FRANCISCO GRISELLINI in 1762.2

Comparing the two maps, Gastaldi 1561, and Grisellini's restoration of 1762, with each other, we must confess that the latter is by no means an improvement, so far as our regions are concerned. The coast-lines of the Indian peninsulas have not undergone any change in 200 years.3 The two great rivers and the northern mountains are practically the same as before. But Camul, Hami, which in 1561 at least was placed north of the Himalaya, is now removed to the south of it, amongst the feeders of the Ganges. North of eastern Himalaya is Cataio Provincia, and north of it Tangut. Still further north is the Deserto di Lop. E.S-E. of the sources of the Ganges, and N.N-E. of the mouths of the same river, is Thebeth, which therefore seems to be placed somewhat south of the eastern continuation of the Himalaya.

Grisellini must be said to have been successful in preserving all the characteristic features of Gastaldi's map, and he has been extremely conscientious in avoiding all the improvements which were so easily available at his time. The only fact that he has saved such an absurdity as the Chayamay Lago is sufficient proof that he would not alter Gastaldi's geography in the least. For already on DELISLE's map of 1723 this lake had disappeared altogether, and at Grisellini's time nobody believed in its existence.4

I In 1 009 I got a photograph taken by the kind initiative of Prof. Mittag-Leffler in Stockholm and Prof. Volterra in Rome. Later on I had another photograph taken, of which Pl. XVIII, is a reproduction. It should be compared with the »Schema della tavola del Palazzo Ducale di Venezia», in Studi Italiani, Anno V, Vol. V, p. 58.

2 Compare Dr. E. W. Dahlgren in my »Trans-Himalaya», Vol. II, p. 406. — The secretary of the Società Ramusiana in Venice, P. L. Rambaldi, wrote, in 1908 a very able memoir on the four maps, which was sent to Prof. Volterra, and by him to Prof. Mittag-Leffler. I have the manuscript at my disposal, for so far as I know it has not been printed. In it we read: »A un restauro, aveva detto il Grisellini, non si pud pensare: non era il caso di ripulire, riparare, accomodare ... il solo ed unico the ne rimane è quello di rifarle di pianta.» Grisellini's proposal was accepted by the Senate and it was decided that the maps should be restored »as a mark of honour to the Patrician Marco Polo, whose discoveries and voyages had been delineated in many places of the said maps». Rambaldi shows that Grisellini's intention was to copy Gastaldi's maps, and that the Government agreed to that plan. Generally speaking the four central geographical decorations in the Sala dello Scudo may therefore be said to give the same representation as the maps from the middle of the sixteenth century. — Compare also Zurla: Di Marco Polo ... Vol. II, p. 374, n•

3 Non v'ha dubbio; l'attuale disegno dell' Asia sulla parete della Sala dello Scudo arieggia in tutto il tipo Gastaldiano, come facilmente si pua vedere per le due penisole dell' India e dell' Indo Cina», (Pullé in Studi Italiani Vol. V, p. 59).

4 Compare, for instance, Euler's map of 1760.