Ship's Art

In seventeenth century Netherlands, during the trade with the Far East, tall ships, galleons and barges filled the harbours. The more prestigious and successful the trading ships were, the more heavily decorated they were with wood carvings and paintings. From a female torso at the bow sprit to heavily decorated sterns, the decoration included the ship's name and home port hand carved and painted. Lions, crowns, eagles and other symbols were creatively displayed, some were even gilded. Carved boat embellishments were also prominent much earlier with the Greeks, the Romans and the Vikings.

Our skûtsje Zonder Zorg came with its own art work. The frame around the doorway and the ruder klik were hand carved by an elderly Friesian lady. She might be gone, but her hand carved work remains on boats still plying the Friesian waterways. Our skûtsje's previous owner's last name was van der Zon, which means from the Sun. The artist created this whimsical carving representing the water cycle from the sun to the sea. It is light and cheery and we decided to keep it. After the refit the frame no longer fit and the scheepstimmerman adjusted and repaired it. It is again in its rightful place on our skûtje as a welcoming entrance.

The klik on Zonder Zorg's tiller has a traditional shape and its single breaking wave was carved to compliment the art at the entrance. Some Maritime Museums have large collections of kliks, and among the wide variety of depicted symbols we have seen are flowers, fruit, animals, birds, fish and shields.

Although a dying art, there are still carvers around that specialize in ship's art. With the thousands of antique boats, ships, barges and yachts still afloat in the Netherlands, the demand for it remains and the craft is kept alive.