Existing comment:
Here we have another highlight of the Naval Academy Museum collection. The small bone model of a three-decker rests inside a case that replicates a miniature stage. To the back and sides are six front-silvered mirrors. The prisoners who made it decorated the wooden case inside and out by gluing to it thousands of pieces of straw, painstakingly arranging them to form geometric patterns. At least three dozen similar models and straw-work cases were produced by the French POWs, though in which prison or prisoners remains a mystery. |