Click main image below to view enlargements and captions.

Maritime, Plaque, Prince of Wales, Sternboard, English Regency, c. 1821

$5,400

Prince of Wales Boat Crest
British: c. 1821
Carved painted wood
12 x 22 inches, overall
$5,400

A highly decorative Prince of Wales British oval wooden boat plaque dated 1821. It has a painted dark red ground and raised relief carved motifs that are either gilded or painted in tones of black, green, and red. The central motif is a finely carved heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales: a plume of three ostrich feathers encircled by a royal coronet above a ribbon. The ribbon probably formerly had the Prince of Wales motto “Ich Dien” (German for “I Serve”). To the far left is a Prince of Wales flag with heraldic insignia. Other decorative raised relief elements below and to the right of the center plume include a Scottish thistle, a crossed sword and mace (or scepter), a cannon, and a sword overlaid across three weapons including spears (or staffs) and a halberd. On either side of the Prince of Wales badge are boxed inscriptions in unusual lettering (indecipherable) one of which contains the date 1821. The edge of the plaque is decorated with a carved raised double gadrooned gilt border.

Product description continues below.

Description

Carved plaques such as these are a form of naval heraldry designed for a specific ship. They are generally and variously referred to as a ship badge, seal, crest, or coat of arms. They were generally applied to the stern — the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat — and thus referred to as sternboards. Ornamental ship signs with identifying the name of the vessel are sometimes referred to as quarterboards. Some ship plaques were applied to the interiors of ships.

Ship plaques would identify the ship at port or sea, or if wrecked, when washed up ashore. They were often salvaged as souvenirs when the plaque was replaced or the ship was decommissioned, scrapped, or wrecked. Ship plaques are now popular decoration for beach houses, libraries, “man caves,” etc. This particular example is extremely fine and a bit fragile, suggesting it was either used very high up over the deck in the stern of the ship, or inside the ship.

This plaque, dated 1821, was possibly used on a ship that was granted a royal commission by the Prince of Wales. In that year, the Prince of Wales, son of King George III, was officially crowned George IV following his father’s death in 1820. (There was not another Prince of Wales after 1820 until 1841, when Albert, eldest son of Queen Victoria, was given the title.) The other inscriptions on the plaque may allude to George IV’s coronation, or may be related to the ship to which the plaque belonged. The Prince of Wales plume is the most recognizable element of the Prince of Wales’s coat of arms. It has become synonymous as a personal insignia of the prince and also of the Principality of Wales itself. The Prince of Wales badge is sometimes granted as a Royal Warrant of Appointment to companies that regularly supply of goods and services to the Prince. At present, there are nearly 200 companies that are entitled to display the badge with the words “By Appointment to HRH The Prince of Wales” underneath.

Condition: Generally very good, a bit weathered overall, with the usual expected wear for a plaque used on a ship. Some restorations to carved and painted decorations and to old split to wood.

Additional information

Century

19th Century