| Search key words | |
| | | Shopping Trolley |
|
| | | Currency | Australian Dollars AUD
|
| |
|
|
Description:French Prisoner-of-War Bone Model of a Fishing Botter. This rare Bone & Ivory Model of a French North Sea Herring Boat was crafted by a French Prisoner-of-War incarcerated by the British in Dartmoor Prison 1775-1825.
Filigree sterling silver embellishes the stern quarters (manufactured from an English silver coin flattened out). Whale-bone ivory is used for tiller, gaff spar, and the fancy work around the top of the fish bin separator – used to store various types of fish – herring, Atlantic salmon, cod, plaice, haddock, hake and ‘rubbish’. The otter boards painted with a naval engagement. The construction is nailed bone plank on plug. The laid deck is also bone. Rigging is tarred flax and cotton. The mast and boom made from fruitwood. The deadeyes bone and whalebone. Some of the standing rigging has been replaced. The bowsprit is not original.
The art of French-Prisoner-of-War Models
Models like this were made from dried and bleached mutton bones from their meals, whalebone ivory and ‘Dieppe Ivory’. Whalebone was a common commodity in England at the time it was a softer material to carve than bone it was used for corsetry and button manufacturer. Whalebone was introduced to the prisoners by the guards, who had a ready market for the finished models.
HM Prison, Dartmoor was built at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, to house prisoners of war, it later became a convict prison - perhaps the most notorious the world. Disease was rampant often causing an early termination to the time served by the French sailors. The worst period of deaths was between November 1809 and April 1810 when 500 men died. The French section of Dartmoor Prison Cemetery held just under 2000 men. The men buried in shallow graves. After burial the wind and rain soon eroded the sodden peat and the animals grazing on the land, especially pigs began to expose the bones of the men buried there. The sun bleached their bones. These bones – called ‘Dieppe Ivory’ – were often used in the construction of ship models.
| Maker:French Prisoners |
Seller:
|
|
|
|
