Manual Ref* NFbrHE001 Show 3 images 727
Title*

Pirate sign (Mary Read)

County Norfolk   District Council Broadland District Council 
Civil Parish or equivalent Heydon  Town/Village* Heydon 
Road The Street 
Precise Location On Earle Arms 
OS Grid Ref TG113272  Postcode NR11 
Previous location(s) Not known 
Setting On Building  Access Public 
Artist/Maker Role Qualifier
Not known     

Commissioned by

Not known 

Design & Constrn period

Early 18th century 

Date of installing

 

Exact date of unveiling

 

Category

Abstract Animal Architectural
Commercial Commemorative Composite
Free Functional Funerary
Heraldic Military Natural
Non-Commemorative Performance Portable
Religious Roadside, Wayside Sculptural
Temporary, Mobile Other  

Object Type

Building Clock Tower Architectural
Coat of Arms Cross Fountain
Landscape Marker Medallion
Mural Panel Readymade
Relief Shaft Sculpture
Statue Street Furniture War Memorial
Other Object Sub Type: Sign representing female pirate

Subject Type

Allegorical Mythological Pictorial
Figurative Non-figurative Portrait
Still-life Symbolic Other

Subject Sub Type

Bust Equestrian Full-length
Group Head Reclining
Seated Standing Torso
Part Material Dimension
Female pirate  Wood  H. about 2 metres 

Work is

Extant Not Sited Lost

Owner/Custodian

Earle Arms 

Listing status

Grade I Grade II* Grade II Don't Know Not Listed

Surface Condition

Corrosion, Deterioration Accretions
Bird Guano Abrasions, cracks, splits
Biological growth Spalling, crumbling
Metallic staining Previous treatments
Other  
Detail: Poor condition missing both arms and one hand many splits object on right side unclear because of damage

Structural Condition

Armature exposed Broken or missing parts
Replaced parts Loose elements
Cracks, splits, breaks, holes Spalling, crumbling
Water collection Other
Detail:

Vandalism

Graffiti Structural damage Surface Damage
Detail:

Overall condition

Good Fair Poor

Risk

No Known Risk At Risk Immediate
Signatures/Marks  
Inscriptions  

Description (physical)

The figure wears a nautical hat and long dress which emphasises her bare breasts while she rests one hand on a swelling stomach under what may well be a sheath(?) or cutlass 

Description (iconographical)

The attributes and appearance suggest that this is Mary Read, the most famous female pirate in the early 18th century. Women pirates were reputed to fight bare-breasted to distract their opponents. Contemporary woodblock prints in the Dutch edition of Captain Johnson's book on Pirate show her wearing a similar cap not her dashing pose, with a pistol replacing the bow, is based one of the most famous of all classical statues, the Apollo Belvedere, in the Vatican. Both Mary Read and Anne Bonny leave tops scandalously wide open, to distract the opposition. Mary Read (c. 1685–1721) was captured off Jamaica in 1720 but was spared hanging together with her companion Anne Bonny because she was pregnant, although she died the following year. The figure may have originated as an inn sign for a pub in a major port. 

Photographs

Date taken:  25/11/2007
Date logged: 

Photographed by:
Sarah Cocke

On Site Inspection

Date:  25/11/2007

Inspected by:
Richard Cocke

Sources and References

http://www.woa.tv/articles/hi_readm.html / Captain Charles Johnson (1724) A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pirates, Conway: Maritime Press, 2002 pp. 117-24 

Database

Date entered:  3/12/2007

Data inputter:
Richard Cocke