Figurehead

The half-length bust (armless) figurehead of HMS 'Harlequin', a 16-gun brig-sloop built at Pembroke Dock in 1836, which was converted to a coal hulk in 1860 and sold in 1889 to Marshall of Plymouth for breaking.

It represents the masked and capped figure of a harlequin, in traditional multi-coloured dress and with a blue cloak resting on a scroll head. Harlequin (Arlecchino) is a traditional Italian 'commedia dell'arte' figure, best known in Britain as a character in traditional pantomime of the late 18th and early 19th century.

Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London