Josephus Jones Sold at Auction Prices

Josephus Jones (South African, 1769-1811) Ships at anchor in Table Bay

Josephus Jones (South African, 1769-1811) Ships at anchor in Table Bay watercolour 17.5 x 34cm (6 7/8 x 13 3/8in). Footnotes Josephus Jones joined the military corps at the Cape of Good Hope in 1784, and made his first cartographic explorations during 1789–1790, assisting his Lieutenant, J.C. Frederici. They surveyed the South West coastal region between Cape Agulhas and Algoa Bay. The resulting map, including an agriculture census of the area, became part of the collection of Governor C.J. Van de Graaff during his term in office at the Cape (1785–1791). Simultaneously, Jones also began plans for numerous Dutch East India Company posts along the South coast, also in the Van de Graaff Collection (cat. no. 244). In February 1791 he again assisted Frederici, this time in mapping St Helena Bay (cat. no. 278). Other works by him included a plan of the governor's house and gardens at Newlands (1791, cat. no. 286), and probably a plan of the country residence at Rondebosch (1791, cat. no. 289). Jones became a prisoner of war during the British occupation after the first annexation of the Cape in 1795. However, after gaining employment as a draughtsman during the brief Batavian Republic (1803-1806), he remained employed by the government, even after the second Cape annexation by the British in 1806. Many of Jones's early mappings now form part of the Van de Graaff Collection in the Topographical Institute in Delft, Netherlands. They are highly regarded for quality and advanced cartographic technique for the time. Also known as an artist, two of Jones's watercolours are in the Fehr Collection, Cape Town, and two others, depicting the military camps at Wynberg and Rondebosch in 1805, are at Groot Constantia. His best known-work is a panorama of Cape Town drawn in 1808, consisting of six pen and watercolour drawings depicting a 360 degree view. It is now in the Rembrandt van Rijn Art Foundation at Stellenbosch.