Maps and merlons

[-JKP-]

...The images clearly do contain a bit more architectural fantasy than architectural reality. The drawings are a mixture, but they still reflect a reality. They substantiate the knowledge of their existence. But has the artist actually seen the merlons?  Has the artist actually seen the muses or the cosmos? Maybe not.
...

I've noticed a great variety of clothing styles when westerners were drawing people from Africa or from the east. In other words, some tried to draw "exotic" clothes and others simply used local clothes, but distinguished the easterners with turbans or something simple and obvious like a different style of flag.

The same seems to apply to architecture. When I was looking at mappa mundae, I noticed that some drew Africa and the Middle East full of European castles, while others attempted to differentiate the architecture (although it was rarely accurate).