Page 320 - Eye of the beholder

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Anirban Sadhu
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Original works by Willem Janszoon Blaeu are rare collectors’ items, and his
map of India, “Magni Mogolis Imperium” (or “The Kingdom of the Mughals”), is
in my opinion a priceless piece. The map covers a large area comprising today’s
India (except for the southern peninsula), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Tibet, and Nepal (figure 1). The fascination of 17th-century Europe with this region of the East created a demand for maps that was fulfilled largely by Dutch mapmakers, even though Dutch commercial interests in the East were concentrated elsewhere. Blaeu’s map stretches from Persia to China and shows lands travelled by the Embassy of the Englishman, Sir Thomas Roe, to the Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1615, derived from a map published by William Baffin in London in 1618.
The “Magni Mogolis Imperium” (henceforth “MMI”) was prepared in 1634– 38. This corresponded to the time in India when the glory of the Mughal empire was at its peak, and the emperor Shah Jahan was on the throne. India was considered a mystical land full of spices, honey, and jewels. The foundation of the Taj Mahal was yet to be laid, and the Renaissance was still happening in the West. The “MMI” is printed on thick handmade paper. Considering the fact that the paper is about 400 years old, one has to admire its quality. The paper of those days was handmade almost entirely from linen and rags pulped in water. After thorough mixing, a close-meshed wire tray was dipped into the pulp and a sufficient amount
lifted out to give the required thickness. Subsequently, the water was drained off,
the sheet dried between layers of felt, and then hung up to dry. The vertical and the horizontal lines made by the wire mesh of the tray are apparent on holding the paper up to the light. Around the time the “MMI” was produced, the finest and strongest paper in Europe was made in Germany, France, and Switzerland, with Ancona in Italy being
another centre of excellence in the field. The “MMI” is printed by means of
copperplate engraving. Unlike lithography – which is a relatively modern technique used to produce several other historical maps of India – copperplate engraving is a labour- intensive and meticulous process where the engraver cuts into the copperplate a mirror image of the matter to be printed. The plate of copper selected for this purpose has to be of just the right malleability and hardness. The plate would be first hammered out to smoothen it and ensure an even topology.
It was then polished to a mirror-smooth finish, first with a piece of grinding stone and water, then with a pumice stone, followed by a hone and water, a hardened bit of charcoal, and finally a burnisher. The design of the map was then transferred to the plate. This process would involve heating the plate, spreading a layer of wax over it with a feather, and laboriously tracing the map, in reverse, onto the wax coating. Once this was accomplished, the design would be “etched” or cut into the plate. This could
be done by using a hard needle to scratch the outline of the map through the wax coating and then pouring acid into the gap left by the needle to burn the outline onto the plate, or by actually cutting the design into the plate by hand. Various tools were used for this purpose – the burin, the tint tool, the threading tool, and the roulette. All this was precision work, usually requiring a number of skilled people and a great deal of time. Once the plate was etched, it usually served as a template and was used many times over for printing. The actual printing process involved spreading ink over the plate and carefully wiping off the excess until the ink remained only in the grooves. The plate was then heated until it was just warm, and put onto the printing press. The paper to
be printed upon was then pressed on the “inked” plate. In this method, the ink was transferred from the plate to the paper by capillary action.
Marg Vol. 60 No. 1