|
||
|
|
|
|
This finely engraved map presents the eastern Adriatic coast from the Bay of Kotor (Bocca de Catharo) to the mouth of the Drin River (Colfo de Ludrin), encompassing the fortified towns of Cattaro, Budua, Dulcigno, and Scutari. Rendered in the Venetian oblique perspective typical of the isolarii, it offers navigational and pictorial information: ships ply stylized waters stippled with fine dotting, while mountainous ranges rise in serrated rows inland. The towns are marked by crenellated walls, towers, and churches, with particular prominence given to Scutari, encircled by concentric fortifications and backed by the eponymous lake (Lago di Zenta overo di Scutari). The cartography emphasizes both the topographical features and strategic positions of this contested coastal region, then a frontier between Venetian and Ottoman control.
Published separately by the Venetian engraver Domenico Zenoi, the map is sometimes found inserted into composite atlases, as well as the 1568 and 1574 editions of Disegni di alcune più illustri città et fortezze del mondo, issued by Ferrando and Donato Bertelli respectively. Zenoi, who may have begun his career in the orbit of Paolo Forlani, acquired portions of that master’s cartographic material and reissued it under his own name. He was active as both engraver and publisher of maps and other prints, including erotic works that occasionally brought him into conflict with the Venetian authorities. Among the few firmly documented episodes in his career is a petition to the Venetian Senate, resulting in the grant of a printing privilege in 1566.
