SHIPS’ MODELS

Hokitika Guardian, 21 May 1932, Page 6

SHIPS’ MODELS

GEMS OF CRAFTSMAN SHIP,

HEAVY MODERN DEMAND

LONDON, May 17

One of the most , interesting of the exhibitions in London recently was the exhibition of models of old war vessels that has been housed in a little room on the premises of the Architectural Association.

Most of the models are of extraordinary beauty, reproducing- all the delicate intricacy of rigging, and boldness of sail which was the charm of the war vessels of the early nineteenth ceutujry. Being mainly confined to this period, the exhibition does not give the visitors a real idea of the evolution of shipbuilding, except that one can see how the heavy vessel of the early nineteenth century evolves into the swifter, arrowlike clippers of the Cutty Sark type. A few of the models are modern; the others were made in the nineteenth century. The demand that liafe sprung up .since the war for them has led to quite a little history. Each model, of course, has largely to be done by hand, except that some of the parts—like the guns—can be stamped out in their hundreds. But hull and rigging have to be done by hand, and to show the care that is taken it may bo mentioned that the dyes alone on one of the vessel shown in the exhibition cost £2OO, so necessary was it to get the exact colours.

A BONE MODEL. The exhibition i« the joint effort of Mr F. H. Mason, R. 1., and of the Sporting Gallery, and Mr Mason, wno probably knows more about this subject then anybody living, gave a short history of model-building to a representative of “The Observer.” The writer was especially interested in a beautiful bone model which is in the exhibition, and Mr Mason explained that this, was made by French prisoners of war during the 'struggle with Napoleon. “Before then,” he isaid, “all the models were dockyard ones. The French prisoners of war set quite a new fashion. You must remember that, unlike the personnel of our own Navy, these men were conscripts, and among them were some of the moist skilled artisans of France. These hone models were done partly to employ their time, partly to earn some money; the food they got was not particularly plentiful or wholesome, and the money they were paid for these models—and some of them were sold for a.s much as £SO-—helped them to exist.

“The models were built on the cooperative system; some would do the hull, others the carving, while a third group would do the plaiting of the base, which was made of straw. Some models were_even made of-straw. It was very 'hard' to pick them up since they were very fragile and broke at the slightest touch. “The models that were made in these prisoner camps were bought usually by tho people who came to visit them. The prisoners sometimes gave one to the Governor, but these are so elaborate and decorative that they are not of very much interest to the serious collector.

“After the Napoleonic Wars the art of ,building models died out, and for years no one seems to have taken any trouble to collect the ones that were already in existence. At ope time you could pick up a bone model, such as you gee in this exhibition, foj a pound. Now they will fetch anything up te> £9OO. Two or throe years ago a seventeenth century model was sold for the staggering price of 3500 guineas. AMERICAN DEMAND.

“The Americans were really the first to start buying them, and since l then prices have been steadily going up. I pick them up in the oddest places. Not so long ng:> T found one in Ilford; T bought another in Skye, and a third in Edinburgh. “Models of ships were made in ancient Egypt, but except for the Clniren offerings, there is then a long gap until you come to the seventeenth century. The Admiralty in the time- of the Stuarts preferred to have a model to a plan (they didn’t understand much about plane), and the result is there are a good many accurate seventeenth century models still in existence. AI e can find np trace of any models earlier than this, except the church ones tlial were carved by individual sailors and then presented to a church as an offering. Some of these eluirch models go back to the fifteenth century, hut they are so very crude, the proportions are so obviously haphazard, that they arc of very little use to the collector apart from their great antiquarian interest. They never provide a great deal of information, and, in fact, are almost as crude as the drawings of the same period.

“I have found oik; reference to a shipyard mode] before tho sovonto<*nlll century. It is in commotion witli one of the Dukes of Northumberland tlu> fifteenth century Duke who founded lh<» Italian Xavy. There is a reference to the effect that. on lii.s departure from Eiifdamr the Master Shipwright of Dept fori I offered to lend lliis shi))’s model, lull no one lias ever been able to trace it ‘Of coursi

even when you eome icr(K'i a church moijo! of ii fifteenth century ship you cannot he sure that it wins not made at n very luueTi later date. For instance, Toe II has one in its elmroli, hut when I examined if T found evidoaee that it had hern made witluii 'the last lot) years. That shmvis, at any 1 rate, that , fl century or so ago there were people like inysell dm winy thoi« mod eh; from ancient plans.'’