Ship Models

These models are the most sought after by collectors. Of one to two meters long, they are the work tool used by carpenters and all trades involved in the construction of a ship. As a result, they are of formidable precision and true historical testimonies of what the boats of the Ancien Régime in particular may have been.

Some are only « lined » (covered with their hull) on one side only, the other side revealing the different membranes and the interior organization of the ship.

These arsenal models only appeared in the middle of the 17th century. They respond to an intense maritime race and the rivalry of the two great powers of the time, the French Navy and the English Navy. The two compete for domination around the world in technological innovations capable of taking precedence over their adversaries in terms of firepower, speed and storage capacity. The investments to achieve supremacy of the seas were such that a body of craftsmen soon specialized in the creation of models which should make it possible to anticipate the strengths and weaknesses of future boats. Thus, construction is initiated only when the model responds favorably to the reproduction of real conditions. The lesson of the Vasa, a Swedish ship inaugurated with great fanfare in 1628, had been learned. The superb three-masted ship built for King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden had not sailed a nautical mile when it sank in a depth of thirty meters the same day.

The English were the first to form an Admiralty Models in 1660 under the reign of Charles II (1630 – 1685), and were quickly imitated by Colbert (1619 – 1683) who entrusted the making of models to architects and marine carpenters and their artisans.

In addition to their essential technical precision, these models are already adorned with the ornaments of the finished ship and make superb decorative pieces. It is moreover the quantity of ornaments and painted or gilded refinements which will indicate to the collector the first vocation of these models. When those all painted and gilded were expensive toys offered to the Sons of France, and in the 19th century to very privileged young boys, the more arid models were those intended for construction sites and, from the 18th century, for the training of military Marine officers.

Another category of models is appreciated by collectors, those more rustic and more poetic models made by the sailors themselves. When time passed slowly on board and boredom set in, some sailors kept themselves busy by making models with the means at hand. Often made of wood, they are sometimes painted, but their length is always less than 80 cm to fit into the sailor’s personal storage once work resumes. Often these models are equipped with ropes, pulleys and all sorts of familiar details, but are rarely veiled. Either the sails have disappeared or they were never set in.

While some of these creations were brought ashore and kept within families, many of them were offered to port churches. They then became ex-voto, a grateful offering of the sailor who prayed to return to land safe and sound. These models are still visible in coastal churches, suspended from the ceilings of buildings like flying ships.

This curious name christens the models made by Napoleonic prisoners on the pontoons of English ships. If their proportions are often more modest than those of arsenal models, their refinement is certainly no less. These models are regularly the result of teamwork where each prisoner had his role and his specialty: one cut the wood, the other collected bones in the kitchen, the other assembled, etc. The result is often a beautiful boat with a bone-plated hull, rigging made of wood, ropes and whalebone. Once on land, these models were sold and the sum obtained distributed among the prisoners to improve their daily lives.

As for the ivory models, on a very small scale, without lacking in precision, they are the work of tabletiers (ivory and bones craftsmen), particularly those from the Dieppe workshops.