This rare, small-scale map of the ocean around the South West coast of India focuses on a particular island named 'Isole Palandure'. It is not clear which of the many islands North of the Maldives this map is referring to, but the cartographer notes that "it was called Pepe by the ancients". The image encompasses the collection of surrounding islands, some of which are labelled, but none with a recognisable name. Beneath the map a paragraph of Italian text describes the inhabitants, geology and customs of the so-called Isole Palandure. According to this information, it was ruled by a King who lived on the Maldives, represented in the lower left corner, and while the natives were not natural warriors, they were very skilled fishermen. The island is also said to have great resources of ambergris.

The anonymous creator of this map clearly used great map of Asia produced by Italian cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi in 1561 as a source, but added this descriptive information. During the early fifteenth century, the Italian explorer Niccolò de' Conti had travelled to the Indian Ocean, and exploration of the regions by European sailors, such as Andrés de Urdaneta, increased throughout the sixteenth century. As a result of such voyages, increasingly accurate and detailed naval charts and maps were produced throughout Europe. This map is an early and extremely rare example from Italian branch of this cartographic expansion. The only other known example is held in the Turin State Archives.