Ship in a Bottle

9 January 2012
The National Maritime Museum would like to get their hands on this fantastic and enormous ship in a bottle and, frankly, who can blame them?

Nelson's Ship in a Bottle, as it's properly known, is by Yinka Shonibare MBE and it's been on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square since May 2010. It's being removed this month and the National Maritime Museum and the Art Fund are raising funds to try and buy it and put it on permanent display in Greenwich, which is a brilliant idea.

The artwork was the first commission for the fourth plinth that deliberately reflected the history of it's surroundings - Trafalgar Square was built to commemmorate Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar. It's also the first commission by a black British artist. The ship has 37 sails made of brightly coloured fabric, patterned with African designs, which is the artist's signature material and the work, as a whole "considers the complexity of British expansion in trade and Empire, made possible through the freedom of the seas that Nelson’s victory provided." Well, that's what the Mayor's office say anyway, and they ought to know.

Dr Kevin Fewster, director of the National Maritime Museum, said: "Nelson's Ship in a Bottle is a superb work of art which has delighted Londoners and international visitors. We feel that Greenwich would be the perfect home for this outstanding piece of work, which chimes so brilliantly with the stories we tell through our museum's unique collections."

We say yes please - giant ships in giant bottles are definitely a good thing and we want one. If you'd like to help stack up the £362,500 that it's going to cost, you can follow the intsructions above or donate via the Museum's website and, hopefully, you'll be able to see this splendid piece of work in Greenwich very soon.

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