Map of the Far East and adjacent Pacific (LOC devised title), pen and ink, ‘Rossi’ Marco Polo map
Attributed in the sheet to Marco Polo (Rossi collection); authenticity undetermined
How we know
claimed or disputed Authorship, date or authenticity is claimed or contested.
Disputed/claimed: sheet claims Marco Polo authorship; LOC catalogue states 'Undetermined authenticity' and 'Provenance unverified'; no accepted observation date.
Research notes
- LOC notes: 'Undetermined authenticity'; 'Provenance unverified'; further description in Leo Bagrow, 'The maps from the home archives of the descendants of a friend of Marco Polo', Imago Mundi 5 (1948). The Rossi collection sheets are examined in Benjamin B. Olshin, The Mysteries of the Marco Polo Maps (University of Chicago Press, 2014), which sets out arguments for and against their authenticity and reaches no firm conclusion; this inventory records the catalogue status only.
- Lead L005 closed as a disputed object with the catalogue caveats copied verbatim.
This page has been corrected. See what changed.
Why it matters
Record only as a disputed object: it uses the phrase 'Cattigara of Tartary' in a key purportedly by Polo, but the LOC itself flags undetermined authenticity and unverified provenance. Not to be cited as medieval evidence without the Bagrow 1948 and later analyses.
Places named
East Asia and North Pacific coast; 'Cattigara of Tartary', Zipangu, peninsulas of Sea Lions and Deer (per key)
Who copied whom
No copying traced for this map yet. See the family trees.
Keep exploring
The maps drawn just before and just after this one.
