Female figurehead. Europe, late 18th - early 19th century.

Female figurehead. Europe, late eighteenth century - early nineteenth century.
Carved wood, with traces of gilding.
It presents good general state of preservation, with small faults, losses of gilding and alterations typical of its age and use.
Measurements: 70 x 28 x 23 cm.

Bow figurehead carved in wood, datable to the turn of the century between the eighteenth and nineteenth. The figure, conceived to decorate the prow of a boat, presents a female bust of naked torso, inclined head and hair gathered in wavy locks, integrating itself in an ornamental structure of scrolls, volutes and acanthus leaves. The piece stands out for the decorative strength of its carving and for the combination between the naturalistic treatment of the bust and the markedly ornamental character of the lower part.

The bow masks did not have a merely decorative function, but also a symbolic one. They acted as a protective image of the ship and as an emblem of the vessel's identity. In this case, the female figure can be interpreted as an allegory of a beneficial nature, perhaps linked to Fortune, protection or navigation, frequent themes in the naval iconographic repertoire of the Modern Age.

From the stylistic point of view, the work is situated in a moment of transition between late baroque taste and neoclassical sobriety, visible in the restrained elegance of the bust and in the survival of vegetal elements of great decorative dynamism.

The presence of anchorages and assemblies on the back reinforces its identification as an element coming from a naval structure. The remains of the preserved gilding, visible in the hair, the profiles and some vegetal motifs, allow us to intuit the sumptuous aspect that it must have had originally, in accordance with the representative function of this type of naval sculptures.