 employed various engravers to work on the plates of the atlas, but only two have signed their work: Frederik Hendrik van den Hove is author of the frontispiece, and Johannes van Loon, who engraved ten charts. All of the designs of the classical constellations were taken from the ones created by Dutch Mannerist artist and engraver Jan Pieterszoon Saenredam (1565-1607). The current chart, which appears as Plate Twenty-eight in the atlas, is unsigned.

This map shows many of the Classical Greek, or Ptolemaic constellations that appear south of the Zodiac as well as those more recently determined by Plancius, after the observations of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) navigators Pieter Keyser (1540–1596) and Friedrich de Houtman (1571–1627) during an exploratory voyage to the East Indies in 1595. These are: 'Chamaeleon', 'Phoenix', 'Apus' (Bird of Paradise), 'Dorado' (Swordfish), 'Hydrus' (the Water Snake), 'Apis' (the Bee), 'Indus' (the Indian), 'Pavo' (Peacock), 'Crux' (Southern Cross), 'Triangulum Australe' (Southern Triangle), 'Tucana' (Toucan), and 'Volans' (Flying Fish).

The Sunderland Collection

Andreas Cellarius’s stunning ‘Harmonia Macrocosmica’,was the only celestial atlas produced during a celebrated era of Dutch publishing between 1570 and 1670. It is quite possibly the finest celestial atlas ever realised. This is one of twenty-one sumptuous Baroque-style charts that majestically represent the three competing astronomical models of the day: the Ptolemaic, Tychonic, and the Copernican.

This engraving shows many of the Ptolemaic constellations that appear south of the Zodiac, as well as those determined by Petrus Plancius, two of which are still referenced today: 'Monoceros' (the Unicorn), and 'Camelopardalis' (Giraffe). They are depicted as if viewed from deep space, superimposed over an oblique south polar projection that includes ‘Terrae Australis Incognita’, and the tips of South America and Africa.

This map was included in Cellarius’s ‘Harmonia Macrocosmica’ of 1660, published by Johannes Janssonius, who in the same year also included the work as the last volume in his own ‘Atlas Maior’.

Andreas Cellarius’s representation of the constellations of the Southern Hemisphere, including the relatively new formations determined by Petrus Plancius (1552-162), first observed by Dutch East India Company navigators Pieter Keyser (1540–1596) and Friedrich de Houtman (1571–1627) during an exploratory voyage to the East Indies in 1595.

The map is presented as if the viewer was looking down from deep space, sometimes referred to as 'God’s View', superimposed over an oblique south polar (or azimuthal) projection of the Earth.

Cellarius's Map of the Southern Hemisphere Constellations