Gondola prow
- Place of origin:
Venice, Italy (made)
- Date:
1600-1700 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Wrought iron, pierced and engraved
- Museum number:
9091-1863
- Gallery location:
Ironwork, room 114c, case 11N
This is an extremely rare example of a seventeenth-century Venetian gondola iron. Gondolas are shallow-bottomed boats that navigate the shallow, calm canals of Venice. Their iron prows and sterns were not designed to withstand heavy seas, and so could be elaborate and decorative displays of the blacksmith's art. They were also kept highly polished. The English diarist John Evelyn (1620-1706) visited Venice in 1645 and described gondolas as 'very long and narrow, having necks and tails of steel, somewhat spreading at the beak like a fish's tail, and kept so exceedingly polished as to give a great lustre'.
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