Lost Art Press

My Favorite Image of Noah’s Ark

Posted on by Lost Art Press

noahs_sharptooth

In our research we study a lot of Biblical images for their woodworking content – thank the someone that Jesus was a carpenter.

My favorite Biblical image is one that Jeff Burks sneaked into a working folder of images from the Middle Ages. When I saw it I almost sprayed a beverage out my nose.

I have no idea where this image came from, but it amuses me to no end. The saws. The hammer. The brace. All about 2,000 years BCE. I somehow lost this image and wanted to make sure it never went missing again.

— Christopher Schwarz

26 thoughts on “My Favorite Image of Noah’s Ark”

  2. I might be the only person who thinks this is interesting, but mediaeval Biblical illustrations of things like war and craft are useful in showing what articles were in common use when the illustrations were made (rather than accurately showing what would have been used when the stories were supposed to have happened). Modern Biblical illustrations generally try to be somewhat more historically accurate. And then there’s this one.

  3. That image is fairly emblematic of popular “biblical” study in ways I wish it wasn’t. People have a way of reading their own ideas back into history and shaping it in the image of their limited experience.

    Off my soapbox, it’s a good reminder that we should look to history with an honest eye and not through our own prejudices.

  4. Not to mention total lack of racking force resistance in how that hull is being put together. Good thing the story itself is pure legend – that boat won’t float.

    1. Interesting. You say that as if you’ve got proof. By the way, in the Bible, the ark is described in detail as a large box, not a boat. So nothing about this picture is accurate.

  5. The first biblical craftsman other than the creator of Adam, or the earth, was Bezalel who was given detailed instructions for making the Ark of the Covenant now honored in Israel at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design who now create as we are all commanded to do.
    Richard O. Byrne

  6. So put very simple… The Ark wasn’t done until 1984 at the earliest, according to the integral steel handled claw hammer? *hope a good and thorough giggle is allowed – if not, I’m in big trouble!*

    2. Interestingly,the copy written for this illustration (found at the link) demonstrates a lack of knowledge of the English language as well as of boatbuilding, woodworking or history. “since” is not synonymous with “sense” .

      1. Never judge a visual artist by there grasp of the English language. Trust me… I know.

  10. It’s a shame the secret is lost of the benchtop that self-heals after you saw it and the board on top of it in two.

  11. I’m impressed that Noah was able to get a scaled drawing on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. The Egyptians wouldn’t invent papyrus for another 1000 years or so.

  14. Noah wasn’t a boat builder or naval architect!

    While there are a lot of anachronisms shown in the tools, the tennis shoes, etc., they are at least reasonable representations of what they purport to show. The boat construction, however, is not even close. Not only will it not float, as said by another poster, in my view it won’t even be completed.

    There are no frames to fasten planking to. Those near 90 degree bends in the bow(?) of the vessel are likely to spring their fastenings at any moment, And from the (limited) view of the interior, there is no evidence of any backing blocks for all those butt joints. There’s no shear clamp to fasten frames to, just a discontinuous, butt jointed (non-structural) cap rail.

    At least Noah didn’t have to move the boat to the water for it’s launching. He just waited until the water rose to him and floated his boat. But trust me, it didn’t get built like this!

    Fair winds and following seas, folks,
    Polly

  15. Please, please everybody – this view is historically accurate! What is depicted is the ark as found on a mountain side in eastern Turkey near Van. It’s been big news in the Istanbul papers.Those men are cutting timber to be drilled and sold as cribbage boards while the young girls are Turkish lasses waiting for the men to finish up and dine with them on Salisbury steak in a newly erected timber framed restaurant made from salvaged boards called Ships Ka Bash. There will be a line. Bezalel is the head waiter.

  17. Apologies, but I feel compelled to comment in astonishment on something you mentioned in the last post. Nothing to do with table saws; rather– side hobby? restoring Karmann Ghias? My Gawd. Not content with building, writing, researching and publishing at a pace and level as though there are (at least) four of you, you also do a little light automotive restoration to fill the otherwise empty hours after Sunday lunchtime? Wow… certainly puts one’s own “accomplishments” into perspective…

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