The carrée La Réale – Vue du Carrosse de la Galère, or simply La Réale as Hermès refers to it, was designed it by Hugo Grygkar and first issued in 1953.   Its inspiration came from one of the model ships that was part of a collection of the Musée National de la Marine in Paris.

The model was built between 1830 and 1837 and is a stunning and one of the last examples of a galley, the most magnificent ships of Louis XIV naval fleets. The beautiful ‘La Réale‘ was referred to as galère extraordinaire and was the flagship of Louis XIV’s fleet. It was built at the Marseilles shipyards under the watchful eye Jean-Baptiste Chabert between 1692 and 1694.
La Réale could reach, at full capacity, the remarkable 🙂 speed of eight kilometers per hour and was distinguished not only for its size but also for the splendid decorative motifs dedicated to the glory of the Sun King and France.
Apollo, Neptune, mermen in large numbers as golden figures all adorned the La Réale.

From the middle of the seventeenth century, however, this type of ship began to lose much of its importance as a combat ship because it was too heavy, too slow, too low and easy to capsize.
By the end of the seventeenth century, the French fleet included forty galleys, more or less three thousand officers and sailors, twelve thousand rowers, all almost exclusively slaves and convicts.

But the stunning La Réale lives on through this fabulous carre.