Half Model of a 54-Gun Ship of the Line

Entry

Polychromed wooden half bracket model of the port side of a ship, mounted on a small wooden backboard.

The side of the ship is depicted by ribbands attached to frame moulds. The side above the wale is closed. Twenty-five pierced gun ports are indicated in three tiers. The forecastle, quarterdeck and poop are fully planked, their hances end in floral volutes. The sheer rises aft. Two wales and the sheer rail are indicated, the lower wale is painted black. The bow features a beakhead with a carved figurehead of a crowned lion, two cheeks with a ribbed trail board, the upper cheek rising to form a hair bracket behind the figure, part of main rail, a beakhead bulkhead, platform, a black knighthead and a cathead. The stern has a round tuck, a hollow counter and two-storey quarter galleries decorated with gold-painted carvings of trophies and garlands. An empty rectangular cartouche is featured at the base of the taffrail. The model has a straight, square-headed rudder in a large, round and decorated helm port. The model has a fore channel, the main and mizzen channels are continuous. The hull is S-bottomed and is painted white below the waterline. No masts or bowsprit.

The model was identified by elimination only and its identification thus remains uncertain. According to Obreen the model ought to represent the 54-gun ship of the line Stad Goes,¹ 154 feet long, built in Zeeland in 1782.

Scale unknown.