Foreign traders first arrived in Indonesia for its spices. Over time, the beauty of the landscape, the hospitality of the people, and the diversity of its culture became the focal points of explorers. Thanks to spaces like Bartele Gallery, the link to the country’s past is preserved for the modern generation.

Bartele Gallery Jakarta at Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Jakarta/NOW!JAKARTA

Bartele Gallery is the only gallery in Indonesia that collects rare antique maps, prints, photographs, books, and other antiquities, some over 500 years old. Not only for study or research purposes, the collections in Bartele Gallery are also ideal as a unique memento or decorative art piece investment from Indonesia.

Bartele Gallery’s collections show the development of cartography in the East Indies and Asia from the 16th century through to the early 20th century. At Bartele Gallery, you will find these impressive maps showing the routes that the pioneers took from Europe to Asia around the Cape of Good Hope, antique prints of extinct animals, vintage posters and plans of Batavia (modern day Jakarta), all over 400 years old. Several of Bartele’s most impressive collections include:

A wedding procession in the valley of the Salak ~ Year 1865
This is an extremely rare chromolithograph capturing a wedding procession in the valley of the Salak, published in 1865 in Holland, after an oil painting by Abraham Salm (1801-1876). Born in Amsterdam on 29 October 1801, Abraham lived and worked there until 1837 when he arrived in Indonesia.

A wedding procession in the valley of the Salak ~ Year 1865.

He established himself first as a merchant in Surabaya, but afterwards became the owner of a tobacco plantation in Malang. He did little actual painting in Indonesia but worked up his drawings into oils in the Netherlands. His paintings of Indonesian views are all at the Colonial Exhibition Amsterdam in 1883.

Insulae Moluccae celeberrimae ~ Year 1598
Engraved by Petrus Plancius, the great Dutch engraver and first Hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company (VOC), and compiled from the latest and highly secret Portuguese sources, the map provides the most detailed cartographic knowledge of the region at the end of the 16 th century. The map was collected by Huygen van Linschoten, the young Dutch secretary to the Portuguese Archbishop of Goa.

Insulae Moluccae celeberrimae ~ Year 1598.

The map was originally bound into some editions of his seminal work, the Itinerario, especially the English edition of 1598, the first popular sailing guide to the ports and cities of the Portuguese trading empire in the Far East including the Spice Islands, China, and Japan. The information portrayed in the map could bring the death penalty in Portugal if made public at the end of the 16 th century.

In addition to being the rarest, most valuable, and sought-after printed map of the region, it is also one of the rarest printed maps of any region in the world with only an estimated total of 20 copies surviving into the 21 st century, half of which are kept in museums and national libraries such as the Bodleian Library and the British Library, with the remainder scattered among private collections, including one copy at Bartele Gallery.

Map of Java Island ~ Year 1724
This extremely rare map of Java Island was published in Amsterdam between 1724 and 1726 by Francois Valentijn (1666–1727). Born in 1666 in Holland, Valentijn was a Dutch minister, naturalist, and writer who spent significant time in the tropics, notably in the Maluku Archipelago.

Map of Java Island ~ Year 1724

This large map of Java consists of seven separate printed sheets that when joined, forms the longest antique printed map of Java, at 1.75m, ever printed. The map has soundings around the whole coastline of Java and a lot of information on land-use, topography, and settlements in early 18 th century Java.

Whether you are an ardent collector of such items, someone looking to provide a memorable gift or just seeking that perfect item to adorn a blank wall, you need to look no further than Bartele Gallery because they also offer affordable reprints of our original antique maps and prints collection.

The gallery, founded in 2009, is situated in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Thamrin, Jakarta. Even if you’re not looking to buy, it's fascinating to research or just browse their endless collection. 

 

Bartele Gallery
Hotel Mandarin Oriental
Thamrin, Jakarta
Open from 11 am to 8 pm daily

NOW! Jakarta

NOW! Jakarta

The article is produced by editorial team of NOW!Jakarta