The full history of this plate and the series of maps it accompanies is still not completely understood. Shirley originally identified this plate as the work of Gabriel Bodenehr, however it is now understood to have first been issued by Johann Stridbeck (1640-1716). Upon his death the plates passed to Gabriel Bodenehr (1673-1765). He published them in the ‘Atlas Curieux oder Neuer und Compendieuser Atlas’, c.1704 and was part of a family of mapmakers whose exact relationships have not been fully determined. He had a son of the same name, but it is known that the ‘Atlas Curieux’ was issued at the hands of the father. He was the son of Johann Georg Bodenehr (1631-1704) and had a brother called Georg Conrad Bodenehr, all were involved in the field.

The map has two side panels, the left side contains a title, a table of the political divisions and scale of miles. The right side bears the royal coat of arms and imprint between which is a further table. An extremely rare third state, the second by Bodenehr, contains the path of a solar eclipse in 1724 which was promptly erased for a further issue. The final state was published at the hands of Georg Christoph Killian (1709-80) who published the supplemental ‘Atlas Curieuz’ in 1738. The title is reworded, the imprint altered, and ‘Deucaladeonium Mare’ added to the North Atlantic. The atlas is rare. Provenance: acquired from Doreen Green, 1994; private English collection. British Museum (biographical detail); Phillips Atlases 545; Shirley (1988) Bodenehr 2; Tooley’s Dictionary (1999-2004).