This very rare watercolour portolan chart of Cyprus by Piri Reis, a noted 16th century Ottoman admiral and cartographer. The chart was one of many included in his work the Kitabi Bahriye or Book of Navigation. There were two printings of the Kitabi Bahriye, one in 1521 and again in 1525. An Arabic inscription can be seen written in black and red at top of chart.
The chart is framed by silver and depicts the island of Cyprus with its major ports and cardinal directions delineated as an array of directional arrows.
The major geologic features of the Troodos and Pentadactylos mountains are rendered as reductive symbols in red and three rivers are illustrated in black. Population centers are rendered as building groupings showing Nicosia in the center of the island and Famagusta to the east. Along the coast of the island various types of ships and sailing boats are illustrated within the ports of Famagusta, Kyrenia and Limassol.
The back of frame reads Portolan Chart of Cyprus Island.
PNT-00834 > Piri Reis, Portolan chart of Cyprus Island, watercolour, 34x28 cm, 16th century.
