French Sailors Scrimshaw Double Gourd
A French Sailors Scrimshaw Double Gourd Finely Engraved with Four Oval Portraits of Napoleon III Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870 and Six Studies of Him in Differing Dress Uniforms with a Three Masted Man O’ War Flying the Tricolor
The top surmounted with a figure of a bird carved from sperm whale tooth
Circa 1860
Size: 27.5cm high – 10¾ ins high
See: Finch & Co catalogue no. 11, item no. 14, for a French Commemorative Regimental Engraved Gourd
The top surmounted with a figure of a bird carved from sperm whale tooth
Circa 1860
Size: 27.5cm high – 10¾ ins high
See: Finch & Co catalogue no. 11, item no. 14, for a French Commemorative Regimental Engraved Gourd
Oriental nuts, and gourds were very popular from the 16th Century outwards as Kunstkammer objects. Selected for their unusual shape the Indian and African gourds would then be decorated with engraved motifs heightened in black ink often by sailors on board ship during the long voyage home. Many of the designs used on gourds and coconuts were taken from contemporary printed images of the day.
French Sailors Scrimshaw Double Gourd
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