CZECHOSLOVAKIA COPPER ENGRAVINGS OF SHIPS

[aukepalmhof]

In 1976 Czechoslovakia issued four stamps, the designs of which were taken from copper engravings in the collection of the National Gallery, Prague.
Mr. Ing. Martin Mosny of Bratislava has provided more details of these engravings, some of the finest to be found on stamps. These ships are of the period 1522-1729 when Czechoslovakia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with access to the sea on the Adriatic.

40h Warship: Engraved by Frans Huys (1522-1562) from a series of eleven warships according to Peter Brueghel, Sr. (Jan de Goederen writes that the stamp design appears to be copied from Huys engraving titled “a hulk and a boyer on the Zuyder Sea off the port of Enkhuizen.”

A Dutch source gives the following on the gravure:
Warship with the inscription “Die Scip 1564” (The ships name is unknown.)
Probably made on instructions of the publisher Hieronymus Cock.
Pieter Brueghel (1561-1562) made some drawings from types of vessels as an example for the engraver Frans Huys.
A total of 11 different drawings are known from Brueghel to Huys.
On the fantail of the stern are two coats of arms visible, on the port side a shield with the arms of Amsterdam, to the starboard that of Enkhuizen. At the top of the mainmast the red-white-red flag of the Dutch town Hoorn is visible, while on the foremast a flag with the Burgundian or St Andrew’s cross is visible, and on the head corner of the mizzen yard a signal flag.

60h This stamp is designed after part of a engraving from “Dutch Merchant ship by Vaclav Hollar (1607-1677) from a series of twelve engravings of Dutch ships from 1674 (De Goederen points out that this design is a portion of the engraving which may be found on page 87 of “The Great Age of Sails.)
The engraving has an inscription with a ships name, but I can not figure it out which. It is a Dutch East Indiaman on her way to India.

1K “Ships in Harbour” engraved by Regnier Nooms Zeeman, correct name is Reinier Nooms called Zeeman (1623-1668) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinier_Nooms.

2K A ship made after an engraving by Francois Chereau (1680-1729). He was a French engraver of portraits and reproductions during the reign of Louis XIV.

Source: Watercraft Philately 1981 page 66 and various internet sites.

Czechoslovakia 1976 40h/2k sg 2292/95. Scott2071/74