Rijksmuseum

Object data

wood and brass

model: height 43.3 cm × length 134 cm × width 35 cm
packaging capsule: height 63.5 cm × width 155.5 cm × depth 45.5 cm

Inscriptions

monogram, on the stern: A VOC

Provenance

...; Kamer Amsterdam der Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company);¹ Departement van Koloniën (Department of the Colonies), The Hague; transferred to the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1850;² transferred to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-503

Entry

Wooden frame model in two superimposed layers of the hull of an East Indiaman, mounted on a stand.

Eighteen gun ports are indicated in two tiers. The model has a lower deck, main deck, forecastle and quarterdeck, all with beams only. The floor of the cabin is lowered, the quarterdeck is very short. The figurehead represents Diana with a hunting dog. The stern has a round tuck with a gun port to port, a hollow counter with two chase ports, a single-storey taffrail with carvings of foliage, mythological figures in the corners and the coat of arms of the City of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam chamber of the Dutch East India Company.

The single-storey quarter galleries are decorated with carvings of foliage. Below the stern is straight, square-headed rudder is specified. On the forecastle a knighthead and the ship’s bell are indicated, and on the main deck double riding bitts, a knighthead, a capstan and a companionway. The model has two sets of channels rigged with deadeyes, the main and mizzen channels are continuous. The carvel planking is left off to port under the wales. The sheer rises towards both ends, the model has two wales and a sheer rail. The hull is round. The masts have been sawn off just above the decks.

The model was transferred to the Department of the Navy by the Department for the Colonies together with NG-MC-502 in 1850.³ Both models were part of the collection of the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch East India Company. This model represents a frigate of the Dutch East India Company and is similar to model NG-MC-502 and probably related to the new designs proposed by Charles Bentam (?-1758) in 1742.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 503; L.G. Carr Laughton, Old Ship Figure-Heads and Sterns, London/New York 1925, p. 60, fig. a; Aust-Agder-Museet (ed.), Aust-Agder-Arv 1985-86. Årbok for Aust-Agder-Museet og Aust-Agder Arkivet, Arendal 1987, pp. 12-14; J.B. Kist, ‘Schepen voor de VOC’, in H. Stevens (ed.), The Art of Technology: The Navy Model Collection in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam/Wormer 1995, pp. 20-23; R. Daalder and E. Spits, Schepen van de Gouden Eeuw, Zutphen 2005, pp. 83-90; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 62-67

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of an East Indiaman, Amsterdam, c. 1740 - c. 1750', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244316

(accessed 23 November 2024 00:12:54).