Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Vatican boat model exhibit, Part 3


This is the final post about a current exhibit of boat models and canoe paddles at the Vatican Museums. Previous posts about this exhibit cover the other models representing boats from outside the Western tradition, and one full-size canoe from the Solomon Islands. As noted in the previous posts, exhibit signage was sparse. We reproduce the English text of the exhibit cards in quotation marks. Our own comments appear in parentheses. As always, click any image to enlarge.

model: "Tahiti: Catamaran"
"Tahiti: Catamaran" (The two hulls are essentially the same but with their ends reversed. The boat should perform the same in either direction when it shunts.)
model Maori war canoe
"Aotearoa New Zealand: Maori boat" (A monohull war canoe. See our earlier post on boats like this.)
model 3-hull catamaran, New Guinea
"Papua New Guinea: Three hull catamaran" (beautiful double crab-claw rig)
model 3-hull catamaran, New Guinea
(Same model as above, showing the hull configuration.)
model New Guinea outrigger paddling canoe
"Papua New Guinea: Boat with outrigger" (The main hull is a dugout with high washstrakes stitched in place)
model Solomon Islands monohull canoe
"Solomon (Islands): Canoe with bird shaped bow" (Somewhat similar to the full-size canoe that serves as the exhibit's centerpiece.)
"Fiji: Sailing boat" (Twin-hull canoe with oceanic lateen sail)
"Fiji: Sailing boat" (Twin-hull canoe with oceanic lateen sail)
"Fiji: Sailing boat" (Twin-hull canoe with oceanic lateen sail)
(Same model as previous. The port hull is much smaller and shorter than the starboard, but it is nonetheless a true hull, not an outrigger float.)
model Alakaluf Canoe, Chile
"Chile; Alakaluf Canoe" (This looks much like the Yamana/Yaghan canoe we've written about previously.)
model kayak-form canoe
"Alaska: Canoe" (Adney called this a "kayak-form canoe.")
model Yaghan (Yamana) canoe
"Chile: Yaghan (Yamana) canoe" (Images created by Europeans show greatly different forms of Yaghan or Yamana canoes. See the Alakaluf canoe two images above.)
model bark canoe with full decks
"Canada: Canoe" (...and a rather fanciful one at that! We're not aware of any bark canoes built with full decks and a round cockpit coaming. The modeler seems to be combining aspects of the open bark canoe with the skin-on-frame kayaks of Alaska.)
model Caraja river boat, Brazil
"Brazil: Caraja river boat" (The cargo of what appears to represent a dugout canoe is probably tortoises or sea turtles. At the right is a pregnant woman; at the left, a baby.)
models, Alaska and Canada bark canoes
background: "Canada: Canoe"
foreground: "Alaska: Bark canoe"
model twin-hull raft from Bolivia
"Bolivia: Mosetenes raft" (A double-hull raft. Perhaps it is built to be separated, so that it can be used as two smaller craft.)
model reed boat, Lake Titicaca
"Peru - Bolivia: Ayamara boat"(A reed boat of the type used on Lake Titicaca.)
bark canoe models, USA
background: "Rocky Mountains: Canoe"
foreground: "USA: Canoe"
(Both are birchbark types.)
model canoes, Madagascar
background: "Madagascar: Dugout canoe"
middle-right: "Madagascar: Dugout canoe"
left: "...West Coast" (presumably Africa; we failed to capture the full label text)
front-right: "Madagascar: Dugout canoe"
model coracle, Mozambique
"Mozambique: Raft" (We'd call this a coracle, not a raft, since it relies on the enclosure of space for buoyancy. The model is made from a single piece of bent bark. If the full-size boat is built the same way, it must be quite small, or else it requires an enormously wide tree.)
model outrigger sailing canoe, Africa east coast
"Africa - East Coast: Sailing boat with outrigger" (The main hull is extraordinarily narrow and highly rockered. This must be a thrilling boat to sail.)
models Congo dugout canoes
background: "Congo: Canoe with rower" (a paddler, in fact)
foreground: "Congo: Canoe"
model boats, Nigeria
background: "Nigeria: Boat with two rowers" (paddlers)
middle: "Nigeria: Boat with passengers"
front: "Nigeria: Boat with passengers"
(All three represent dugouts with an aft platform carved as an integral part of the hull for the stern paddler/helmsman. Locating the paddle force so far aft of the submerged part of the hull lends a great deal of power for turning and correcting strokes, making these boats highly maneuverable.) 
model Yoruba dugout canoes, Nigeria
"Nigeria: Yoruba boats: H.E. Mons, Carlo Maria ViganĂ²" (These were the only models in the exhibit credited to whom we assume was the donor or lender.)
canoe paddle display, Vatican Museums
A nice selection of canoe paddles were exhibited at the end of each of the spiral levels of the hall, unfortunately with no exhibit cards or other identification. (This photo by Cate Monroe)
canoe paddle display, Vatican Museums
A closer look at the paddles on the middle level.

(All images by the blogger except as noted.)

1 comment:

  1. The one you could not identify and put "left: "...West Coast" (presumably Africa; we failed to capture the full label text)" for is a Coastal fishing canoe from Ghana. I have seen many models like it and modern ones look the same.

    ReplyDelete