The Elven block.

[Amarie of the Vanyar]

They said that they could never make a ship better than that. I as a human being cannot understand that. How is it possible to reach a pinnacle? I just simply cannot fanthom the idea that you can make something and be unable to make something better. I think that that is the great thing about humans in ME and in general, they can always improve.

I think that this is possible if you consider the Elven ships as 'Art' and not as 'Industry'.
Take the art of painting as an example. For me is feasible that Michelangelo could have considered that after painting the Sistine Chapel he could never do anything better (I don't know whether this is true, it's only an example). And even though there have been other extraordinary painters after him, it is also feasible to think that nobody could have done the same Michelangelo did.

In my opinion, this is the main difference between how Elves and Men 'do' things. For Elves, everything they did was considered a piece of Art, and therefore either impossible or very difficult to copy or improve.