CLOUET / MONDHARE. - Carte d'Asie divisée en ses principaux Etats.

Uncommon and decorative "carte à figures" - wall map, prepared by Clouet, with superb decoration, including a wonderful rococo border with 20 decorative vignettes of various scenes from around Asia.

There is very good detail of towns and trade routes in the region of modern-day Uzbekistan. The region here is labelled as "Tartarie Independent, "Usbeks," and "Gand Bukarie." The important cities of the Silk Road are mentioned Bukara (Bukhara), Samarcand (Samarkand), Tashkunt (Tashkent), etc.
Modern-day Kyrgyzstan is labeled "Petite Bukarie."

The cartographic content of the map reflects Clouet's intention to compile a map of the highest quality. The Clouet / Mondhare wall map of Asia is one of Asia's most decorative wall maps published in the second half of the 18th Century. This wall map serves the purpose of being a spectacular object when decorating libraries and salons and was a statement of the worldliness of the owners.

With an inset map (145x95mm), under the title cartouche to the right, a curious map of Alaska and Strait Bering. With two title cartouches, one French (as above), one Spanish. It has finely engraved, decorative borders, 170mm wide at the sides and 150mm at the bottom, and contains twenty vignette scenes from Biblical and Asian history and myth, each with a short text in French and Spanish.

This map is bilingual because Mondhare also had offices in Cadiz. Surviving copies are rare.

The map is interesting as it shows Korea in the d'Anville type with labeling I.Tsiteheou ou Fongma, Quelpart and Mer de Corée, the sea between Korea and Japan.