Cresques Abraham

The Catalan Atlas of c. 1375 is the only map that has been confidently attributed to Cresques Abraham. Researchers have suggested that five other existing maps might also be attributed to Cresques, Jehuda or some other worker in the Cresques atelier. Like the Catalan Atlas itself, these five maps (four portolan charts, one fragment of a mappa mundi), are unsigned and undated, and their date of composition estimated sometime between 1375 and 1400. Catalan Atlas, c. 1375, 6 panels, map from the Atlantic Ocean to China, held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, France (call number MS Espagnol 30) Venice chart, c. 1375–1400, portolan chart (missing northern Europe), held at the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, Italy (call number It.IV,1912) Florence chart, c. 1375–1400, portolan chart (west Mediterranean only) held at the National Central Library, Florence, Italy (call number Portolano 22) Naples chart, c. 1375–1400, normal portolan chart held at the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III in Naples, Italy (call number ms.XII.D102) Istanbul map c. 1375–1400, fragment of mappa mundi, held at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey (call number 1828) Paris chart, c. 1400, portolan chart held at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris, France (call number Res. Ge. AA. 751) According to Campbell, of the four portolan charts attributed the Cresques atelier, the Naples and Paris charts are more ornate than the other two, with the Paris chart (c. 1400) in particular seeming closest to the features of the Catalan Atlas (c. 1375). However, attribution to the Cresques workshop is only tentative. As Campbell notes, "That this group of charts is closely related is clear. But it is hard to see, from the colour analysis alone, evidence to confirm that these four charts were the product of supervised work in a single atelier." Cresques also produced an illuminated Bible with an annexed Hebrew-Catalan dictionary, known as the Farhi Bible.