Geographical Map of Great Ming, 1681 (Edo period, Japan). Ink, paint, gold, and silver on paper. Denver Art Museum: Gift of Wesley and Linda Brown, 2018.35.

height: 114 in, 289.5600 cm; width: 140 in, 355.6000 cm

Arts of Asia

Arts of Asia

Geographical Map of Great Ming
1681, Edo period
Japan
Ink, paint, gold, and silver on paper
Gift of Wesley and Linda Brown
2018.35

This enormous multicolored map depicts China during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), although it was made in Japan almost forty years after the fall of the Ming. Many Japanese scholars during this later period considered the Ming to be the last great Chinese empire, and they mourned its overthrow by the Manchu. For this reason, the map may have evoked in its viewers nostalgia for a vanished imperial past, a quality enhanced by the inclusion of references to ancient polities and obsolete place names. Ming China’s thirteen provinces, its current and former capital cities, and its numerous administrative subdivisions are all labeled and color-coded, as described in the legend at bottom right. Shown are the Five Great Mountains, revered as pilgrimage sites since ancient times; the “five mountain ranges” (the Nanling Mountains) of southern China; and the Great Wall, delineating the empire’s northern border. A red line marks two main trade routes, one linking Kyushu in Japan to the Chinese port of Ningbo, and the other linking the Ryukyu Islands to the south China coast.

Pre-nineteenth century unknown; Nineteenth and early twentieth century, collection of Iwakura Tomomi; Mid-twentieth century, unknown Japanese collection; 1990s or early 2000s, collection of Wesley A. and Linda Brown, purchased in Japan from unknown dealer.