Early, Very Rare View of Java

Giacomo Franco, 1598 :
24 x 30 cm. Trimmed to plate. Excellent. $800.

A crudely-engraved, semi-fanciful view of Banten. Banten was a major market in Southeast Asia. In May of 1598, a fleet of eight ships under Jacob van Neck and Wybrand van Warwijck left Texel for Southeast Asia, approaching the Indies through the Sunda Strait and establishing contact with the Javanese markets at Banten.