Rare and magnificent engraving of the extraordinary 17th-century English warship the Sovereign of the Seas, shown in full sail, flying 5 flags and more than a dozen pennons. With her more than 1500 tons and more than 100 guns, she surpassed all her contemporaries in size and gun power and cost about ten times as much as an average naval gunship. Besides being "one of the best known naval prints belonging to the seventeenth century ... extraordinarily rich of detail and of the greatest possible interest" (Chatterton), it is also by far the largest English engraved view to survive from the first half of the century. For the engraving, Payne had, most likely, access to the builder's draughts and plans and must have collaborated with Peter Pett for the engraving to be as representative of the ship as possible.
Trimmed to the printed image at the two sides, not always completely straight, a few small tears (mostly repaired) at the head and foot, a few tiny spots and a tiny blemish, but still generally good, very attractive and printed in a crisp impression. BM online cat. 1854,0614.252; H. Busmann, Sovereign of the Seas (2002), pp. 39-46 (locates 7 copies); Chatterton, Chats on naval prints, pp. 56-57.