Considered a pinnacle artform of the ship modeling craft, bone ships made by prisoners during the Napoleonic Conflict are among the most collectible maritime artifacts to be identified. This British First Rate Warship is a beautiful and delicate model of a impressive carved bone warship. It has a sharp three-masted ship's rig, and some of the lines being original. The Man-O'-War shows an exceptional amount of custom carvings, especially the elaborate quarter galleries and the ornate polychrome painted warrior figurehead.
Beautifully detailed and proportioned, the model is in very good condition. The hull is very finely pinned and the primary gunwale is made of baleen, with three decks of guns in the 16/16/15 configuration showing more between them. Ten more upper deck guns per side and two "chase" barrels make for a total of 122 cannons. The three square rigged masts have traditional fighting and observation platforms. The ship is complete as it rests on its original ornate base of boxwood and straw marquetry design with turned intricate ivory posts, all set under a quality antique oval glass case.
Innovations in the construction of sailing ships in the last half of the nineteen century, using knowledge gained primarily from French and American designs, allowed these large British sailing warships to be built stronger and faster. Their girder frameworks and advanced uses of knees, braces, and other structural improvements meant bigger ships capable of greater power and speed. Suddenly the option of distant blockades of enemy ports became a naval warfare practicality, and the British did it more often than any other nation. The prisoner-artisans involved in the creation of this fine model -no doubt a team of experienced sailors and craftsmen with their individual personal experiences with carving, rigging and ship construction- would still be proud of this fine surviving nautical antique today.
