A Clove Boat

This charming model of a boat was constructed of dried cloves. It was made in the Moluccas, which at one time were known as the Spice Islands and part of the worlwide spice trade of the 17th century.Spices were highly valued for their preservative and medicinal properties. A similar example survives in the Kunstkammer in the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences.