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UNUSUAL FULL HULL SHIP MODEL WITH TERRIFIC FORM AND SURFACE, ca 1840 |
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| Dimensions (inches): |
9" x 27.25" x 3.5" |
| Description: |
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UNUSUAL FULL HULL SHIP MODEL WITH TERRIFIC FORM AND SURFACE, ca 1840:
This is a full hull ship model, made in America sometime around 1840. Prior to the twentieth century, half hull model ships were often constructed by shipwrights as a means of planning a ship's design and sheer and ensuring that the ship would be symmetrical. Half hulls were mounted on a board and were exact scale replicas of the intended ship's hull. Full hull models, made in the manner of their half hull counterparts, without rigging or other fixtures, are extremely unusual. I have seen crude ones, perhaps sometimes intended to become pond boats and so only partially completed. These have generally been broad and plain. But I have never seen a schooner such as this, smooth-sided, tall, narrow, and graphically elegant. Although its purpose is unknown, it was finely constructed, seemingly by a master carpenter. It is light and hollow and pleasant to hold. The design is, interestingly enough, perhaps not practical. Instead of a model for an actual boat to be built for the sea, this may have instead been intended as a work of whimsy, or, as folk art collectors Richard and Rosemarie Machmer appropriately titled their book on 18th - 20th Pennsylvania German carvings, "Just for Nice."
Found in New England, the model is valuable because it is a terrifically sculptural, early, and unusual piece of American folk art, with the best possible, original, untouched, painted surface. Folk art collectors are crazy about form and surface and an early date, and they are crazy about the unusual. This has both.
Condition: Excellent, with out the most minor wear. |
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| Primary Color: |
red |
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| Earliest Date: |
1840 |
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| Latest Date: |
1850 |
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| For Sale Status: |
Sold |
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| Price |
SOLD |
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| E-mail: |
info@jeffbridgman.com |
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