The Gran Carlo, Royal Ship of England

The artwork

At the top of the mainmast, in the centre, flies the standard of the King of England, and beside the English lions are the lilies of France. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• An English royal ship flying the King's standard, among griffins, fish and crabs.
• In a study or a child's room, the rigging can be followed line by line.
• A gift for anyone who builds model sailing ships.

In 1340, in Ghent, Edward III proclaimed himself King of France and quartered the French lilies with the lions of England in his arms. English kings kept title and lilies even after losing Calais, their last possession on the Continent, in 1558; Henry VIII, so the story goes, called it a title “good for nothing”. Only George III dropped them, in 1801, more than four and a half centuries later. The harp of Ireland, on the same standard, had entered the royal arms in 1603, when James VI of Scotland also inherited the crowns of England and Ireland.

It is one of the ship plates from Vincenzo Coronelli's Atlante Veneto, introduced by the cartouche at top left: “Nave reale d'Inghilterra nominata il Gran Carlo”, the royal ship of England named the Great Charles. Around the ship Coronelli set up a small baroque stage: a griffin with open wings, a coat of arms held up by a muzzled bear, frames full of fish and crabs, and on the left a castle on a rock. The cartouche on the right reads that the plate is “described in his Atlante Veneto by Father Cosmographer Coronelli, and dedicated”; the space for the name was left empty. The copy, dated 1693, is in the David Rumsey Map Collection.

For anyone who builds model ships or loves English history, it belongs in a study or a teenager's bedroom, with every line of rigging to follow one by one. And at the top of the mainmast, the King of England still calls himself King of France.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass