Half Model of a 64-Gun Ship of the Line

Entry

Polychromed wooden half bracket model of the starboard side of a ship, mounted on a rectangular wooden backboard painted blue.

The side of the ship is depicted by ribbands attached to frame moulds. The side above the wale is closed except for the forecastle and quarterdeck. The gun deck and main deck are planked; a horizontal mould is fitted on the level of the gun deck. Twenty-seven pierced gun ports are indicated in three tiers. Both the forecastle and the quarterdeck are outlined by ribbands. The sheer rises towards both ends. Two wales and the sheer rail are indicated, the lower wale is painted black. Both wales are interrupted by gun ports. The bow features an empty beakhead, a beakhead bulkhead and part of the beakhead platform. The stern has a round tuck and a hollow counter. The model does not have a taffrail, quarter galleries or a rudder. The keel has a skeg. The hull is slightly S-bottomed and is painted white below the waterline. The model has two bilge ribbands. No masts or bowsprit.

An interesting feature is the thick main frame and the presence of only two ribbands.

In the past the model was mistaken for model number 300 from the Navy Model Room and thus carries an incorrect inventory label.¹ The identification of this model as no. 266 from Obreen’s catalogue of 1858 is based on probability. According to Obreen this model represents the 64-gun ship of the line Zeeland, 160 feet long and built in Zeeland in 1782.² Some features however point to an Amsterdam origin. Zeeland was captured by the British in 1795.³

Scale (derived) approx. 1:48.