British Sailor's Woolwork of Merchant Ship Under Full Sail

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British Sailor’s Woolwork of a Three-Masted Merchant Ship Flying the Red Ensign
Circa 1875

This British sailor’s woolwork, or “woolie,” … Read more British Sailor’s Woolwork of a Three-Masted Merchant Ship Flying the Red Ensign
Circa 1875

This British sailor’s woolwork, or “woolie,” presents a portside view of a large three-masted, full-rigged merchant ship under full sail. Worked around 1875, it is a fine example of the maritime folk art that seamen made aboard ship, ashore in port and in retirement during the later Victorian era.

The anonymous maker set the broad, billowing sails in pale wool outlined in pink, laying the black rigging over them in long, taut stitches. The Red Ensign flies from the spanker gaff at the stern, and a long red pennant streams from the main masthead. The black hull carries a white strake with a row of black painted ports, the device many merchantmen of the period borrowed from the frigate, above a copper-colored bottom. The ship rides on a flat, uniform band of blue sea beneath a mottled gray-white sky that suggests an overcast day, in the classic, stylized manner of the genre. The picture is housed in a molded honey-toned wood frame with a pale inner slip.

At 25½ inches wide, the picture suits a library, study or entrance hall, hung over a chest, console or chimneypiece. Its blue, white and black palette sits easily in a traditional or coastal interior and alongside marine paintings, ship models and English country furniture.

Dimensions
Height: 20¾ inches (52.7 cm)
Width: 25½ inches (64.8 cm)

Provenance
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge

References
Order in Council of July 9, 1864, published in The London Gazette, October 18, 1864, issue 22903, p. 4903.

Historical Context
Sailors’ woolworks, known as “woolies,” were made by British seamen chiefly from the 1840s to the close of the nineteenth century, the decades in which sail gave way to steam. They usually show a ship in full sail, at anchor or in action, often framed by flags, anchors and floral motifs, and were worked at sea, in port and in retirement ashore, some as gifts for loved ones and others for sale in naval and port towns. Berlin wool and other brightly dyed commercial yarns, together with steadier pay and more regular leisure, put both the materials and the time within a sailor’s reach.

The Red Ensign is itself a guide to the subject. Until 1864 it was also worn by Royal Navy ships of the Red Squadron, but an Order in Council of that year gave the Navy the White Ensign alone and left the red to the merchant service, which already flew it; on a picture of this date it marks a merchantman. Woolies that name a ship, show several vessels, stormy seas or elaborate borders are especially prized, and beyond their charm they record the moment when the ordinary sailor became a figure of national pride.

(Ref: NY10481-ckur) See less