The Lost Casket World Map: Authentic Sixteenth-Century Map or Eighteenth-Century Forgery?

This article focuses on the so-called Casket Map, a world map engraved on the lid of a metal box, which was long believed to date from the early sixteenth century but is now understood to be an eighteenth-century forgery by Bonaventura Meneghetti. Through detailed visual comparative analysis, the study argues that the Casket Map was copied from a previously unknown authentic early sixteenth-century printed world map—referred to as the Source Map—that shared distinctive geographical features, notably a large, enigmatic island-continent in the South Indian Ocean and a "Little India" peninsula. While the forged casket itself is lost, its map preserves the image of this lost Source Map, which likely influenced other contemporary maps such as the Sylvanus modern world map of 1511. The investigation highlights how cartographic anomalies and stylistic elements can reveal the complex transmission and reinterpretation of geographical knowledge during the Age of Exploration.