When I saw @CultureThemes this month asking museums to get
nautical with the theme #MuseumBoats I wasn’t convinced MoDiP would be able to
join in the fun. We don't have any
marine oil paintings showing grand vessels taking to the sea or any actual
boats in the collection; we wouldn’t have the space to store them. However, when I gave the idea more thought I realised we had lots of things we could share:
Ship Shape
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| Ship Shape by Alessi |
This little ship might not be sea worthy but it can
certainly sail across the breakfast table and provide butter to spread on toast,
the puff of steam conceals the knife handle.
Ahoi Juicer
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| Ahoi Juicer by Koziol |
Keeping to breakfast this piece, resembling a paper boat, is
designed to squeeze juice, containing liquid in its hull rather than floating
on it.
The Gill jacket and Crewsaver Buoyancy aid, which are
currently on display as part of Plastics for Gold, are for the sailor to wear to keep them safe, warm and
dry.
Toy dinghy
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| Toy dinghy |
This tiny toy dinghy, part of the PHS collection, might be
too small to carry you on the ocean but it can sail away with your imagination.
I may well be pushing the theme a little here, but how about a yacht shaped logo? The company that made this camera is called Elliot. Not an obvious logo, perhaps, but say the name slowly ELL-I-OT: L E Yacht!
These two objects from the Worshipful Company of Horner’s both depict engraving made of sailing ships. The beaker is more naïve in its execution whilst the powder horn has the addition of coloured pigment.
Photographs
Lastly we have a number of photographic images of small and
large boats which are part of an archive from BXL, a producer of plastics of
many years now no longer trading. We are
still working our way through the documentation of this collection but so far I
have come across images depicting:
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| the interior of the QEII |
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dinghies designed to be carried to the water on the roof of a car
|
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| and boats destined to be rowed across the oceans |
OK, so some of these links to the #MuseumBoats theme may be more tenuous
than others but I think I just may get away with it, what do you think?
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
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