Alle origini della cartografia gesuitica della Cina : Michele Ruggieri, la Sinarum Regni (…) descriptio e l’atlante incompiuto

The origin of the Jesuit Cartography of China. Michele Ruggieri, the Sinarum Regni (…) descriptio and his unpublished atlas Michele Ruggieri SJ (1543-1607) represents a key-figure in the framework of the encounter between East and West during the Modern Age. Once back in Italy (1588) after several years he had spent in China, he used his knowledge of Chinese language and the Chinese cartographical sources he had collected there to publish for the European audience an atlas of the Ming Empire. Unfortunately for him, the atlas remained a manuscript and unrevised proof, now conserved in the State Archives of Rome. New elements regarding the cartographic work by Ruggieri are related to the recent discovery of a map linked to the Italian missionary, published at a small scale and ignored so far, entitled Sinarum Regni alioru[m]q[ue] regnoru[m] et insularu[m] illi adiacentium descriptio. This copperplate-printed map, devoided of any indication about the cartographer, the printer, the place or the date of publication, was at first published and discussed in 2003 in a catalogue of the collection of the historical maps of China belonging to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; later, a second copy was found at ARSI (Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu) in Rome, annexed to a manuscript by Ruggieri. Sinarum Regni (…) descriptio must be considered the oldest Jesuit map of China, probably printed in Rome prior to the elaboration, by the Italian missionary, of the manuscript of the atlas of China. The paper critically compares Sinarum Regni (…) descriptio with the manuscript atlas, underlining analogies and differences.