Half Model of a 68-Gun Ship of the Line c. 1797 - 1798

Curator: What strikes you immediately about this "Half Model of a 68-Gun Ship of the Line," circa 1797-1798? It’s a fascinating object. Editor: It's incredibly austere, almost diagrammatic. The contrasting dark hull and the white lines of the frame—they speak of a blueprint more than a vessel. What can you tell us about this wooden artifact? Curator: Well, these "half models," as they’re called, served as prototypes. Artisans would craft one side of a ship’s hull to determine the lines for its construction. They are essentially templates that embodied centuries of accumulated maritime knowledge and symbology. The ship has been a potent symbol for exploration, trade, and conquest. Editor: Right. And to see this level of planning laid bare in wood speaks volumes about the labor, craft, and investment of resources required for these massive undertakings. Think of the sawyers, the carvers, the blacksmiths – entire economies geared toward shipbuilding. The model highlights process. I am interested in understanding who created it, for what purposes? Curator: Precisely. The symmetry, and that lack of overt embellishment invite you to consider it as the physical manifestation of maritime authority, order, and power. The individual components combine towards that ultimate symbolic objective. Editor: Absolutely, but for me the visual precision belies all the invisible work, not of the mind, or concept, but of human hands involved in such enterprises. One can almost imagine the workshop setting from seeing its stripped-down structural elements here! It feels oddly modern, perhaps because of this brutal honesty in materiality. Curator: That contrast works so well. Now I also find it’s a testament to the universal aspirations of any age, from discovery to dominion. Editor: Seeing it broken down like this really does ground it, yes. We begin to glimpse a vision for new frontiers or violent naval operations and more through considering all this hard work to complete construction and production, centuries on!