County of Mansfeld, Saxony. 1560 (per plate).

Engraved by Venetian cartographer Tielemano Stella (1527–1589), this map depicts the County of Mansfeld within the Holy Roman Empire — a politically fragmented region of central Germany during the Renaissance.

The cartouche reads:

“Mansfeldiae Comitatus Descriptio – Auctore Tielemano Stella.”

Executed as a copperplate engraving and finished in hand color, the work reflects the refined linear style of mid-16th-century Italian cartography: articulated river systems, stylized hill shading, and dense regional annotation.

Stella’s work predates the dominance of Dutch atlas production and sits within the transitional period of Italian engraved mapmaking — when territorial Europe was still defined by bishoprics, counties, and principalities rather than modern nation states.

Details

• Cartographer: Tielemano Stella (1527–1589)
• Title: Mansfeldiae Comitatus
• Date: 1560 (as engraved in plate)
• Medium: Copperplate engraving
• Color: Hand-applied
• Region Depicted: Mansfeld (Saxony, Germany)
• Framed Size: Approx. 24 x 22 in
• Condition: Currently framed; not examined out of frame. Margins appear even; plate mark not visible due to matting. Sold as shown.

This is an early impression of a 16th-century design. As with many Renaissance maps, impressions were issued across multiple periods; the sheet has not been removed from frame for paper analysis.

A legitimate antique cartographic work — not a modern decorative reproduction.