Ships, Folk Art, and Whimsey in Bottles

This ship is a topsail schooner sailing near a land mass. This intriguing diorama show the ship anchored along the coast of Norway with a small rowboat with three sailors rowing toward a pier. The ship has two masts and 5 sails rolled up while anchored. The ship's hull is in natural wood with a light top rail. There is an anchor hang from the bow of the ship and the ship is tethered with a line running to a large red buoy in the water. The ship has channels and shroud and ratlines. The standing and running rigging is very detailed and well done with blocks and tackle. The deck features numerous features such as cabins, hatches, and more. The flag of Sweden flies for the stern rigging. A small rowboat with three sailors is in the water near the schooner. The sailors are colorfully painted and each have a set of oars. They are rowing toward a wooden pier on shore. The land is dark brown with some small vegetation. It covers the open end of the bottle and rises sharply on both sides of the opening to form a mountain. The bottle is sealed with a cork that is covered with a Turk's Head knot. The artist, Frans Dekker added the following: "This is a model without a name. I saw this ship at Sail 2000 in Amsterdam and my wife asked my to built it for here. In a piece of wood the size of the ship was written and I have made some pictures of it. I give it in a setting at the cost of Norway whit 3 sailors in a small boot ho are rowing tot de shore. That is because it is a ship from de Scandinavian countries. I built it in 2002. The bottle is a very good bottle for SIB from a typical Dutch liqueur called genever (very nice to drink it empty) The bottle is 22 cm long, and square 9 x 9 cm. The size to come in to the bottle is 22 mm."