Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
C07.519 |
Title |
Bone ship model |
Object Name |
Model, Ship |
Description |
Model of fully-rigged three-masted 80-gun ship constructed from animal bone; the hull is wood covered with strips of bone; two rows of gun ports, baleen strips below ports; decorative paint on figurehead of early warrior; set into wooden stand; in case of glass with maple frame. The model originally had a mechanism for retracting the guns, but the lines to operate it are missing. The two holes in the stern were for those lines. |
Date |
c.1812 |
Year Range from |
1790 |
Year Range to |
1820 |
Artist |
Presumably a French prisoner |
Dimensions |
H-27 W-6 L-34 inches |
Material |
Animal bone, wood; baleen |
Place of Origin |
Forton Prison, near Portsmouth, England |
Provenance |
Supposedly made by a French prisoner of war during the Napoleonic Wars. Bought in England in 1812. The name Clovis was attached to this model later in the 19th century, but there is no evidence that there was a ship named that, either French or British. Was Athenaeum #2 on the c.1830 list. The list gives the origin as Fortune Prison, probably an error. Forton Prison near Portsmouth, England, housed French prisoners of war in the Napoleonic Wars. |
People |
Thompson, William Whipple, 1786-1843 |
Search Terms |
Early Athenaeum collection |
Subjects |
Ship models Prisoner of War models Napoleonic Wars French prisoners Forton Prison, Hampshire |