Ptolemaic World Map - Sebastian Münster, 1544. (World Map In Color)
This map gives you a very old idea of the world, the way people thought about it before the great sea voyages changed everything. The land sits in a curved, half-dome shape and is surrounded by clouds and small wind heads, all printed on warm parchment style paper. It has a strong old-world feel and looks good in a study or library next to dark wood, books and brass details.

About this map print
This print is based on a Ptolemaic world map by Sebastian Münster, first printed in Basel in the early 1600s and dated 1544. in this form. Münster followed the ancient geographer Ptolemy, who drew only the “ecumene,” the part of the world thought to be inhabited. On the map you can see Europe, North Africa and Asia stretching out to India, while the rest of the globe is left off the page.
 
The map is filled with heads that blow the winds, each one named, which was a common way to show directions in Ptolemaic style maps. The Indian Ocean is almost closed, and a large island called Taprobana sits off the coast, showing how older Greek and Roman ideas were still being reused in Münster’s time. If you compare this map with your later world maps, like Ortelius’s Typus Orbis Terrarum or John Speed’s A New and Accurat Map of the World, you can see how mapmakers slowly opened up the oceans and turned this old half-dome world into a full globe.

Craft & finish
This antique map print is made on hand processed paper, with subtle gold highlights and a beeswax finish so it feels close to real parchment when you hold it. The surface catches the light softly, but colors can look a little different from screen to screen.

Find more prints like this in our Antique Maps collection.