Object data
wood, brass and lead
height 9.5 cm × width 36 cm × depth 33.5 cm
's Lands Werf Amsterdam
Model of an Artificial Reef
Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1800
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-1023
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Model of an artificial reef, called a ‘waterruiter’ (or chevaux-de-frise). It is 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 below the surface of the water, they were used to defend harbours against enemy fleets. This particular design is by Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837), but it was never tested at full scale.
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, pp. 144-45; J.C.J. de Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche zeewezen, 5 vols. and index, Haarlem 1858-62, vol. 5, pp. 509-11; J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1023; 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; H. Stevens (ed.), The Art of Technology: The Navy Model Collection in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam/Wormer 1995, pp. 38-41; 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.244838
(accessed 20 September 2024 02:41:23).