Dimensions : 1265 (W) X 1300 (H) mm

No. 27

Chinese Map of the Sungchiang Prefecture (Shanghai) with Jesuit additions.
Manuscript, Sungchiang [1656-1661?].

This map was drawn by a Chinese draughtsman in 1656, or just after, and the Latin names and legends were added in 1661 or immediately thereafter by the Jesuit Francesco Brancati; a missionary stationed in Shanghai from 1639 until his death in 1671. The dating and attribution have convincingly been made by Dr Noël Golvers, F. Verbiest Foundation, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Brancati's aim was to present a statement of his missionary achievements in Shanghai and the Sungchiang Prefecture, promoted either by the recent arrival of a new colleague (François de Rougemont) or by the thought of his successors.

According to Brancati himself, he had been the only missionary for most of his stay in Shanghai. In about June 1660, however, he was joined by the Flemish Jesuit François de Rougemont (1624-1676). De Rougemont had arrived in Macao at the end of 1658. In 1659 he was in Hangchou, and in 1660 he reached Shanghai, where he worked with Brancati until at least July 1661.

As a basis, Brancati took a Chinese topographical map, carefully selected for its completeness and splendour. On this he noted in Latin the location of all Christian communities, churches and oratories as well as other information relevant to the Jesuit mission in Sungchian Prefecture. The main purpose of Brancati's additions to the original Chinese map is to show the spread of Christianity in the Sungchiang Prefecture. It is a typically Jesuit work.

Chiang-nan Province, and above all Sungchiang Prefecture, was the showpiece of the Jesuit mission in China (especially in the seventeenth century), and members of other congregations of the Roman Catholic Church, such as Dominicans, only occasionally operated in the area.