Object data
wood, brass and lead
height 9.5 cm × width 36.1 cm × depth 34.2 cm
's Lands Werf Amsterdam
Model of an Artificial Reef
Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1800
Provenance
...; collection Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837), Amsterdam, 1807;1 Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1837;2 transferred to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-807
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Model of an artificial reef, called a ‘waterruiter’ (chevaux-de-frise).
The model features a roof-shaped wooden framework with two rows of sharp points to one side. The reef is weighted with anchors on one side and grapnels on the other.
Artificial reefs were an invention by Hendrik Aeneae (1743-1810), member of the Central Committee for the Navy of the Batavian Republic. Anchored and floating slightly beneath the surface of the water, they were designed to defend harbours against enemy fleet.
This particular design was a counter proposal by Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837), but it was never tested on full scale. It comes from his private collection.3
Scale unknown.
Literature
J.P. Asmus, Verzameling der verhandelingen over de defencie der zeegaten ... , s.l. 1800, manuscript in HSM, inv. no. B.0216(0322); J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 807; J.C.J. de Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche zeewezen, 5 vols. and index, Haarlem 1858-62, vol. 5, pp. 509-11; R.M. Haubourdin et al., De physique existentie dezes lands. Jan Blanken, inspecteur-generaal van de waterstaat (1755-1838), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1987, no. 45; A.A. Lemmers, ‘De kunstklip van Aeneae (1800) en de leugen van Asmus’, Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis 12 (1993), no. 2, pp. 111-27; A.A. Lemmers, Techniek op schaal. Modellen en het technologiebeleid van de Marine 1725-1885, Amsterdam 1996, pp. 100-15; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 108-11
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, ''s Lands Werf Amsterdam, Model of an Artificial Reef, Amsterdam, 1800', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244621
(accessed 23 November 2024 00:29:26).