Gujin diyu quantu [Complete Map of the Past and Present], Dated Guangxu yiwei year, corresponding to 1895

Alan Fung, Hong Kong, 1997.

In 1892, Liu Mingjie (1857-1911), a Qing painter known for his folk paintings, created China's first commercial map, Gujin diyu quantu [Complete Map of the Past and Present]. The present lot is a later edition to the 1892 map. Prior to then maps were only produced for administrative or religious purposes. The map encompassed all territories under the Qing empire as well as marginal inclusions of other countries, including including those in Europe, Southeast and South Asia. Loosely derived from the Da Qing wannian yitong tianxia quantu [Complete map of the whole unified country of the Great Qing] , lot 224, Liu's map shares similar iconography, geographic coverage and style. However, whereas the former was administrative, the present lot incorporated extensive annotative, and at times, humorous, texts describing ancient folklore and tales relating to the respective geographic regions.

The present lot is most likely the third edition of the map. For examples dated to the same year, see one in the collection of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library, published on the Library's website (accession no. G7820 1895 .G8 1895er); and another, sold at Christie's New York, 15th October 2021, lot 114. Interestingly, the inscription on the present lot indicates it was published by Jindu Dashun tang. This institution also appeared as the publisher of a 1892 version of the map in the collection of the National Museum of Taiwan History, Tainan (accession no. T2018.002.1499), published on the Museum's website.