[Plan Utrecht on silk] Utrecht aertsbisdom.

Engraved plan with profiles of the city above (from the east) and below (from the west) the plan, by Adam Willemsz. van Vianen (c. 1568-1627), no place or publisher, signed and dated 1598 in the plate, 36 x 50 cm. (incl. profiles), printed on GOLDCOLOURED SILK.

Damaged patch on the right and a few smaller lacking pieces of blank margins; reverse with remains of removed paper mount, folded. Still a good copy considering the extreme fragility of the material. Donkersloot-De Vrij, Kaarten van Utrecht, 8; Hollstein 1, only state. Interesting and highly attractive early plan and profiles of the city, the largest and most important of only 3 known engravings by Adam van Vianen, the famous Utrecht silversmith and goldsmith. This important cartographic work of art was the first plan of Utrecht made entirely in the city itself, and also the first to be combined with profiles. According to the reference works no copies survive from an original edition from 1598, despite its popularity, and only one copy of the 1651-1652 edition by the engraver's grandson. PiCarta lists a 1621 edition and the 1651-1652 edition, both as "unavailable". All other known copies are 19th-century printings of the originale plate (kept at the Centraal Museum). In 1842 copies of the plate were printed on paper, cloth and vellum, by order of Nicolaas van der Monde (see also the next lot in this auction). Van Vianen based his plate on older examples (such as the plan by Van Hoorn from 1569), the Salvator- or Oudmunsterkerk (demolished in 1587) is present on both the plan and the profiles. The map is otherwise up to date with various stoneworks and earthworks and bulwarks, relatively recent in 1598. A nice touch involves the wooden drying racks at the Vredenburgplein, placed there for the cloth producers with permission in 1594.