There were major alterations made on the map suggesting that the map was executed in stages and at times by trial and error (Fig. 11). The trade route directions were drawn accurately according to their compass needle directions when they were through the open sea or when they were drawn before the coastlines were laid down. There were a number of instances where the trade routes had to be re-drawn to accommodate the landmass drawn in later (Fig. 11). These trade route directions were all accurately drawn, on the other hand, those trade routes that had to fit the coastline tend to be drawn off course compared with the compass directions marked (Fig. 12). The routes along the southern coast of China and along the east coast of the Philippines to Brunei were accurately drawn suggesting that they were drawn before the coast line. The south eastern part of the map is the most uncertain to the cartographer as major alternations were found in this area where land was overpainted into the sea and vice versa (Fig. 15). The routes along the coast in this part of the map were also off course which is not surprising given the changes made to the coastline. It seems that the cartographer was trying to match the land and the trade routes by trial and error. Part of the problem appeared to be the limited space on the map to fully accommodate the island of Java and the other part of the problem was uncertain knowledge of the eastern parts of that region. Similarly, on the western edge of the map, the route to Calicut was drawn incorrectly due to lack of space. It is interesting that the land around Vietnam, which was drawn too small compared to most of China, was originally planned to occupy an even smaller area (Fig. 11a). It is understandable that the routes in narrow straits such as the Malacca strait are difficult to be drawn with the correct directions. It is interesting to note that on the navigational charts of Admiral Zheng He, the routes were not drawn according to their accompanying compass directions even though the written navigational directions were accurate. The Selden map cartographer did not have to draw the trade routes exactly according to the compass directions, but he clearly chose to do so as the majority of the routes were drawn at least as accurately as he drew the compass rose. Brook suggested that the reason why some of the routes on the Selden map were off course was because of the difficulty in projecting a spherical earth to a flat sheet of paper [3]. However, even without the knowledge of a spherical earth, there is nothing stopping the cartographer drawing all the trade routes first, strictly according to the compass directions and his knowledge of the distances (presumably derived from travel time), before drawing in the landmass. All he needed to do then was to distort the landmass to fit the routes and by doing so he would have naturally produced a map roughly similar to the one that followed the Mercator projection. In actual fact that is more or less what he did as only a handful of routes were drawn after the landmass was drawn. This is probably the reason why the Selden map roughly resembles our modern map of the region.
There are two routes on the map that did not have accompanying compass directions marked on them, the route from Manila to Ternate island and the route along the East China coast towards the north from Quanzhou, suggesting perhaps the map was not fully completed.
All the trade routes start from Quanzhou and the compass needle directions point in the outward journey directions. In addition, the China part of the map was closely copied from the one in the popular Fujianese encyclopedia of 1599, even down to the use of the unorthodox version of the character for the word ‘country’ (?instead of ?).5 It seems most likely that the cartographer has a close connection to Fujian which would not be surprising since the two Fujianese ports were the most active Chinese ports for overseas trade at the time. Most of the Chinese merchants, sailors or pirates traveling on the sea routes or residing at one of the ports outside China in this period would have been Fujianese from these two ports. Therefore, the cartographer/painter of the Selden map is most likely to be from Fujian, but there remains the question of where it was made.
It has been pointed out that the inclusion of the compass rose and the scale bar on the Selden map indicates European influence. The identification of gum Arabic but not animal glue is further evidence of its unusual origin. While the broad appearance of the map and the painting style appears to be Chinese or East Asian, the use of gum Arabic (and not animal glue) as a binding medium in paintings from China of this period is unheard of and equally the combination of orpiment, indigo and a basic copper chloride to form a green colour in a painting from Ming China has not been reported so far. In the early seventeenth century, gum Arabic is the common binding medium used for paper-based works of art in Europe [24] and in South and West Asia, e.g. Persian or Indo-Persian illuminated manuscripts [25, 26]. It is interesting that in the Indo-Persian tradition there was a practice of adding sheep milk to gum Arabic to improve the texture of a paint [26]. It is worth noting that a trace amount of casein was detected in the HPLC–MS analysis of a fragment from the Selden map. The combination of orpiment and indigo to create a green colour is common in European and Islamic manuscripts of this time [39–41], but in China the common mixture for a green is indigo and gamboge [23, 28, 42]. While orpiment is mentioned as a source of pigment in Chinese historical sources, it is rarely detected on paper-based paintings from China except for some scroll paintings from Dunhuang on the Silk Road [23]. However, there is at least one alternative explanations for the detection of orpiment. It is known from historical sources that orpiment was sometimes used to protect the paper substrate from insect attacks [23, 37], though material examples of such treatment is rare. It is more common to find paper treated with berberine (or Huangbo) giving it a yellow appearance [36–38]. In a large survey conducted by the Freer Gallery, orpiment was not found on any of the Japanese Ukiyo-e paintings until after the seventeenth century [43]. In China orpiment is also used to make corrections owing to its good hiding power, but in the Persian tradition lead white is more commonly used for corrections [25]. The corrections on the Selden map (Fig. 13) were made with a white paint. While basic copper chlorides such as atacamite are known to have been used on wall paintings and as architectural paint in China [23, 29, 30], its use on paper-based paintings from China is rarely reported except for silk paintings found in Dunhuang along the Silk Road [23]. It is worth noting that during the time of the Ming, Dunhuang was outside the Chinese border. Atacamite and its isomers are not usually found on paper-based paintings in the western European tradition [31]. However, atacamite seems to be commonly used in Persian or Indo-Persian manuscripts of this period [25, 39]. Basic copper chlorides were not found on Japanese Ukiyo-e paintings before the eighteenth century in the Freer Gallery survey of ~500 such paintings from the late sixteenth to nineteenth century [43]. Overall the binding medium and pigment use appear to be more consistent with a Persian or Indo-Persian tradition than that of Chinese, Japanese or European in this period.
A number of conjectures has been proposed for the origin of the Selden map of China. Some scholars thought that the map was made in the neighbouring port cities of Quanzhou (??) or Zhangzhou (??) in southern Fujian by a local scholar or by a Sinicized Arab/Persian merchant settled in Quanzhou since there was a sizable Arab/Persian community in Quanzhou at the time [8], others thought it was made by a Chinese (Fujianese) in Manila [1] or in Banten in West Java [3]. These hypotheses will be examined in the following section in view of the new evidences from the analyses above.
It is unlikely for a Fujianese cartographer/painter living in China to paint the map using gum Arabic rather than the usual animal glue even if he had seen foreign maps and borrowed the idea of painting a compass rose on the map. A non-Chinese living in China sinicized to the extent of producing such a Chinese style painting might more easily have used animal glue than gum Arabic which might have been difficult to source.
There are more place names marked in Japan than many other areas outside of China, however, past studies have concluded that the map was unlikely to have been made in Japan for two reasons. Firstly, apart from the Kyushu island, the rest of Japan is distorted and incomplete, and secondly, Japanese place names have not always been labelled using their proper Chinese characters [1–4]. Rather, the characters on the map appear to be transliterated from the Portuguese pronunciations, which strongly suggests that the cartographer’s knowledge of Japan came second hand and from the Europeans. These odd names are usually associated with southern Japanese trading ports such as Nagasaki which was established as a global trading port by the Portuguese. Here we will explore this hypothesis in light of the analytical results on the materials. There is no suggestion of gum Arabic being used as a binding medium for paper-based paintings even in the Jesuit schools in Japan at this time [44]. As early as the 1580s, the Jesuit seminary in Nagasaki was teaching the Japanese western music and painting techniques to facilitate the spread of Christianity until the early seventeenth century when Christianity was banned. Chinese Christian converts from Macau were sometimes sent to the Jesuit schools in Japan to learn western religious painting techniques. Two such students were responsible for painting Matteo Ricci’s portrait at his death bed in Beijing in 1610 [45]. Analysis of a western style map of the world as well as another Christian painting from Japan of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, both on paper substrates, found that they were painted in both animal glue and oil [43]. It is interesting that the Christian missionary influenced Japanese paintings combined the local binding medium animal glue with the common European binding medium normally used on easel paintings rather than paper-based works of art. Given that in this period the common binding medium for paper-based paintings in Europe was gum Arabic, it is odd that oil was used instead. Perhaps the Japanese artists were mainly taught to paint Christian themed easel paintings by the Europeans but not the illuminated manuscripts. Neither oil nor animal glue were found in the case of the Selden map. In addition, the use of orpiment and basic copper chloride were not known for paintings from Japan of this period [23, 43]. It seems that the new material evidence does not support the Japanese origin either.
Another suggestion is that the author of the map is a Fujianese living in Manila, since there was at the time a sizable Chinese community based in Manila and the reference to the Spanish as huaren (??) was specific to the Chinese community living in the Philippines [7]. Batchelor [1, 2] also proposed that the map is likely to have been made in Manila and captured on route to Japan by the East Indian Company’s ship Elizabeth. The coast near Manila was annotated in detail, the Midoro Strait and Apo Reef were marked as gateway to a route towards Ternate and Tidore. The presence of the Spanish was indicated on the map on the east coast of the Philippines, probably referring to the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade started in 1565. Manila at the turn of the seventeenth century was at the centre of globalisation with the Chinese coming from the north, the Persians, Arabs, Indians, English and Dutch from the west and the Spanish arriving with their galleons of silver from Mexico in the east. It is well documented that prior to the Spanish settlement in Manila in 1571, there were only 150 Chinese living there but by 1603 the Chinese community numbered ~30,000 because of the trade with the Spanish [46]. It was noted in 1589 by the Bishop of Manila that there were all kinds of craftsman including painters amongst the Chinese. Painting materials were known to have been imported from China. Similar to Japan, the Jesuits in the Philippines were also teaching local painters, who were predominantly Chinese painters, the art of European religious painting techniques starting from the early 1580s [45–47]. At present there is very little scientific data available for such paintings to compare with, but if the situation is similar to what happened in Japan, then the binding medium might have been a mixture of animal glue and oil. We must also consider that before the arrival of the Spanish, Islam had already spread to the Philippines. Muslim merchants from South and West Asia were known to frequent the ports and some settled there. However, it seems that painting as a representational art form was unknown in the Philippines before the Spanish conquest [46]. Paintings in the form of Islamic illuminated manuscripts are only known from the southern Philippines from a much later period [48]. It would, therefore, seem more natural for the Chinese painters in Manila to follow the traditional Chinese way of painting unless they were recruited by the Christian missionary to paint. However, as mentioned above, the binders and pigment use are more consistent with those from the Islamic world than the European or the Chinese. Another observation is that the route from Manila to Ternate was marked in detail with all the zigzags that end up in both the Spanish and Dutch controlled areas suggesting that the cartographer’s knowledge of this route was very detailed. It is curious that there were no compass directions marked on this route. The only other route that did not have compass direction marked was the one along the East China coast north from Quanzhou. One might argue that if the cartographer was a Fujianese living in Manila, then he might be familiar with these two routes and therefore found it less urgent or important to mark the exact directions on them. However, it was noted by Gong [7] that the relative positions of the Dutch and Spanish on the Ternate Island were incorrect and the relative positions of some of the cities along the east coast of China were also incorrect, suggesting perhaps the cartographer was unfamiliar with these parts of the world. Brook noted also that southern parts of the Philippines were not as accurately drawn as many other parts of the map [3]. Further study of the art history of the Philippines and scientific analysis of paintings from the Philippines in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century are needed before we can make conclusive statements about this hypothesis.
Brook suggested that the map was made in West Java and taken in ~1609 by John Saris, a captain of the East India Company [3]. Qian agreed with this suggestion and thought Banten, an important port in the early seventeenth century, was most likely, since Jakarta only overshadowed it after the Dutch settlement in 1619 [8]. The Banten Sultanate was founded in the sixteenth century and as a result Islam spread in Banten. Chinese traders are recorded to have frequented Banten since at least the thirteenth century and the large seventeenth century Chinese cemeteries in Banten testifies the presence of the Chinese during this period [8]. In contrast with the situation in Japan and the Philippines, Europeans were not well established in Banten in this period. For the Chinese cartographer to have adopted the new painting material and technique, there needs to be a well-established Indo-Persian painting tradition in Banten. Again we look to any potential borrowings from illuminated manuscripts. A comprehensive art historical study through visual analysis of Islamic manuscripts from Banten, found the manuscripts to be unusual in the Malaya world in that they were mostly not illuminated [48, 49]. The three that were illuminated were also unusual in their colour scheme. It was concluded that there was a lack of tradition in manuscript illumination in Banten compared with other centres in the Malaya world. The surviving manuscripts are mostly from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century similar to other places in South East Asia.
Finally we suggest a new alternative that is the map was made in Aceh by a Fujianese, possibly a Muslim in close contact with the Islamic world. Because of its geographic location, Aceh was frequented by Indian, Arab, Chinese and European traders. Aceh was the first region in South East Asia to be converted to Islam, dating back to at least the thirteenth century. The Sultanate of Aceh became one of the most powerful states in South East Asia after the Portuguese captured Malacca in 1511 making Malacca less attractive as a trading post for Islamic traders and thus benefiting Aceh in the competition for trade. Aceh is the most westerly port on the map in South East Asia and therefore closer to the Islamic world and have more access to the painting materials and techniques adopted. If we take the magnetic declination shown by the compass rose to correspond to that at the location where the map was made, then Aceh is the only port marked on the Selden map to have a magnetic declination close to 6°–8° west in the early seventeenth century. In addition, Aceh is also one of the only six ports marked with a red circle. The six ports are Aceh in Sumatra, Nakhon, Phatthalung, Patani and Kedah on the Malay peninsula across the strait but safely away from the Portuguese in Malacca, and Hue in central Vietnam. There is a historical link between central/southern Vietnam and Aceh. People from central/south Vietnam fled to Aceh after the collapse of the Champa Kingdom in late fifteenth century. These six ports are clearly marked to be special and may indicate the main trading network of the map owner. Aceh in the early seventeenth century was frequented by the Persian, Arab, Indian, Chinese, Dutch and English traders. It rivalled the Portuguese controlled Malacca. The proximity to India and Persia and the long history of Islamic influence makes it more likely that the cartographer would have had access to the same painting materials as those in the Islamic world and learnt how to paint with these materials. One of the earliest surviving illuminated document in the Malaya world was a royal document from the Sultan of Aceh to King James I of England in 1615. An art historical study of a large corpus of Acehnese illuminated manuscripts (the earliest surviving example known was from the eighteenth century) found the style to be most distinct and coherent compared to other regions in the Islamic world of South East Asia suggesting a well-established tradition of illumination [48, 50]. This is a necessary environment for the fusion of painting materials and techniques seen in the Selden map. In addition, any English or Dutch ship going back to Europe from South East Asia would have to pass by Aceh either from the east or west coast of Sumatra and thus giving them the chance to obtain the map. It is interesting that while the activities of the Spanish and the Dutch were marked on the map, there was no mention of the Portuguese anywhere on the map. Perhaps the Portuguese had been there long enough not to be considered necessary to mark on the map. Further historical research is necessary to test this new hypothesis.