19th Century Hand Carved Ship’s Carved and Gilded Trailboard

19th Century Hand Carved Ship’s Carved and Gilded Trailboard, Second Half 19th Century, a carved and shaped plaque that is upswept and narrowing towards the tip, with incised or sunken relief carved and gilded foliate scrolls, petal rosettes and lanceolate leaves, on black painted ground.

Trailboards were decorative carvings mounted on both sides of the bow of a ship, trailing back from the figurehead or billet head (if present) and extending to the hawse holes where the anchor chain was funneled. In the simplest cases they merely bore the name of the vessel, while the fancier boards were fully and ornately carved like the present one.

This trailboard was found on the coast of Maine, and from its size was most likely from a “Down-Easter” or coasting schooner. It remains in remarkably good condition for an applied decorative piece that was generally recovered from a shipwreck. The gilding and paint is strong, and the board is intact with only a small loss at the forward end, and some minor bangs along the edges.

Measures: 8-1/4 in H x 89-1/2 in L