Model of the Construction of a Timber Ship c. 1824

This model of a timber ship's construction was made anonymously from wood. Ship construction was a major industry in many countries, and a source of national pride. In the Netherlands, the Dutch East India Company led global trade, making ship-building a point of cultural focus. Given its level of detail, this model would have been made to give shipwrights and carpenters an idea of the internal structure of these ships. The model shows the structure of a ship as a complex grid of intersecting beams. As such it reflects not only the technical expertise required for ship construction, but also the organisation of labour. The Dutch maritime industry had strict hierarchies, and relied on the expertise of different trades. Understanding these social and economic structures helps us to understand the meaning and purpose of an object like this. By consulting archives we can learn much more about the context within which such an object was made.