- Title: Xuntien alias Quinzay
- Author: Matthäus Merian
- Date: c. 1650
- Medium: Copperplate engraving
- Condition: Good - age toning, wear along issued center fold, large repaired tear extending from upper margin into center of image, surface dirt, scuffing, tide marks and creasing in margins
- Inches: 10 1/8 x 7 1/8 [Image]
- Centimeters: 25.72 x 18.1 [Image]
- Product ID: 315081
View of the city of Hangzhou, China showing ships entering its harbor by Matthaus Merian.
Matthaus Merian the Elder was born in Basel, Switzerland on the 22nd of September 1593. He began his career in the arts with the engraver Friedrich Meyer in Zurich, where he studied copper engraving as well as drawing. At 26 years old he went to Frankfurt and was employed by the well-known publisher Johann Theodor de Bry. He would go on to take over and complete two works started in 1590 by de Bry, Grand Voyages and Petit Voyages respectively. Merian the Elder is perhaps most known for the work he produced in partnership with Martin Zeiller titled Topographia, one of the largest publishing works at the time, which ultimately totaled 30 volumes. The work was continued by Merian’s sons Matthaus the Younger and Caspar upon his death in June of 1650.