c1700 - CAMBRIDGESHIRE - Folio size copper engraved antique map titled:"Comitatis CANTABRIGIENSIS vernacule CAMBRIDGESHIRE" by Schenk & Valk, after Jansson.

A highly decorative map with 24 coats of arms of the important Cambridgeshire families, decorative cartouche of Cambridge luminaries and numerous putti. Later hand colouring.

Overall size approx 56cm x 46cm including margins, blank on verso.

Outstanding condition 
Peter (Petrus) Schenk (1660-1711) was born in Elberfeld. He moved to Amsterdam in 1675 and became a student of Gerard Valk specializing in mezzotint. Valk was married to Maria Bloteling, the sister of the Amsterdam engraver Abraham Bloteling. In 1687 Schenk married Gerard's sister Agatha Valck. In 1694, together with Valck, he bought some of the copperplates of the artdealer and cartographer Johannes Janssonius. Along with Valck and Bloteling, he produced prints for the London market, though it is not known if he ever went there with them.

Until 1700 he lived in the Jordaan, then he moved to Dam Square or to Leipzig, where he opened a shop, selling maps and art. He was a regular visitor to the trade fair Leipziger Messe in Leipzig, where he died. He had three sons who became engravers. His eldest son Peter Schenk the Younger was also a noted cartographer and art dealer who continued his father's shop in Leipzig. His sons Jan and Leonard stayed in Amsterdam and probably continued their father's workshop. His daughter Maria married Leonard Valck, the son of Gerard, who continued Gerard's workshop.

Gerard Valk (September 30, 1652 - October 21, 1726) was a Dutch engraver, globe maker, and map publisher active in Amsterdam in the latter half of the 17th century. He studied mathematics, navigation, and cartographer under Pieter Maasz Smit. He later worked in London for the map sellers Christopher Browne and David Loggan. In 1687 he established his own firm in Amsterdam in partnership with Petrus (Pieter) Schenk, who married his sister in the same year. They published under the imprint of Valk and Schenk. Initially they published maps and atlas, acquiring the map plates of Jodocus Hondius in 1694. Later, in 1701 they moved into the former Hondius offices where they began producing globes. Valk and Schenk quickly became known for producing the best globes in the Netherlands, a business on which they held a near monopoly for nearly 50 years.