Bone POW Bone Ship Model of "THE ROYAL GEORGE", English/French circa 1790
InformationPrisoner-of-war bone ship model of "The ROYAL GEORGE", English/French, circa 1790. The model has a planked hull and deck. There is a beautifully carved and polychromed figurehead of a mustached warrior holding a shield in his left hand and a spear in his right. The beakhead and trailboards are also beautifully carved and polychromed. There are three rows of cannons on each side of the hull. There are applied bands that are scribed separating each row of cannons. The bottom two rows of cannons have red painted cannon port covers. The top row of cannons are deck mounted and are protruding through the bulwarks. The rear deck is raised and has a red and blue painted stairway. The front of the raised deck has charming painted panels. The quarter galleries are beautifully carved and polychromed. The stern gallery is exceptional and has three rows of windows with two pierced balconies. Below the bottom set of windows, the name: "THE ROYAL GEORGE", is painted. The top of the galleries has three figures carved in relief and running down the sides of the back are carved bell flowers with blue and red polychrome. There are three carved figures of sailors in blue and red uniforms wearing black top hats. The masts, yardarms and bowsprit are all bone as are the hundreds of tiny deadeyes and blocks. The rigging is extremely elaborate and most of it is original. The model sits in a pair of bone chalks mounted to a mahogany board. The model has an old mahogany case with brass uprights and rounded corners. At each corner at the top of the case are brass urn shaped finials. It is rare to find a prisoner-of-war model with this much color and carved figures. (SM-704)
Condition: Model is in excellent condition and has a mellow age patina. Some of the glass in the case has been replaced, but the case has a nice old finish.
Note 1: A small number of POW models had originally installed extracting cannons systems. There was a spring system installed inside the model in the early stages of the building of the model. There was a metal plate with springs installed on both starboard and port sides of the model. If you gently push one of the cannons in the bottom 2 rows, many of the cannons will move in and out as though they were firing in unison. When you release your finger, the cannons return to their original position. This system is not working a bristly as it did 220 years ago when it was new but still when you depress a number of different cannons you can see several others moving in out simulating that they are firing.
Note 2: The only other bone POW model I have viewed with carved and painted sailors figures standing on the deck and up standing on the spars was a model that sold in a Christie"s American sale held January 6th, 2006 with a sales price $78,000. A number of items from the collection of Mrs. J. Inlsey Blair including a portrait of Washington that sold for over $20,000,000. Mrs. Blair along with Henry Francis DuPont, was one of the pioneer collectors in Americana. She was both scholarly and intuitive in her collecting. She was one of the great forces in establishing the American wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There were 2 photographs taken November 1927 depicting the POW model illustrated in the Christie's Catalogue of her "Museum Room No. 1" in Mrs. Blair's mansion, referred to as Blairhome. This model did not have retracting cannons.
Dimensions of model: Length 22 1/4 inches; Width 7 1/2 inches; Height 18 inches
circa 1790
