figurehead
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carved wooden decoration found at the prow of a ship
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Figurehead on a model of the French ship Océan A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the bow of ships, generally of a design related to the name or role of a ship. They were predominant between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, and modern ships' badges fulfil a similar role.
History
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “figurehead” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.