Object data
wood, brass, paper and paint
height 47 cm × width 107 cm × depth 12.5 cm
Charles Bentam (possibly)
Half Model of a 24-Gun Frigate
Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Harlingen, c. 1740
Conservation
- H. Ketting, 1983: restored
- Ab Hoving, 1994: cleaned; retouched with reconstruction of original blue background colour; revarnished
- Ab Hoving, 1996: restored
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-331
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Polychromed wooden half block model of the starboard side of a three-masted ship, mounted on a rectangular wooden backboard, covered with paper that has been painted blue in a decorated wooden frame.
The side of the ship is fully planked over a wooden block and is highly detailed. Twelve recessed and black gun ports, two with port-lids, are situated on one continuous deck, plus one in the counter and a smaller ballast port or demi-battery on the lower deck. The sides of the forecastle and quarterdeck are decorated with floral motifs, and have railings and ornately carved hances that end in volutes. The sheer rises towards both ends. Two wales and a sheer rail are indicated, the lower wale is painted black. The model has three channels with deadeyes. Ahead of the main channel entering steps are placed. The bow features a fully detailed beakhead with a carved figurehead of a crowned lion, the trail board between the cheeks is decorated with floral patterns, the upper cheek rises to form a curled hair bracket behind the figure. There are headrails, two hawseholes, a beakhead bulkhead with three black knightheads, a beakhead platform and a cathead. The stern has a round tuck and a hollow counter. The taffrail and single-storey quarter gallery are elaborately decorated in a baroque fashion with intricate carvings of foliage, and there are paintings of trophies on the flat surface between the taffrail and counter. The lower finishing of the quarter gallery has the shape of a fishtail but is actually floral in form. Below the stern is a straight square-headed rudder that follows the skeg of the keel. The hull is S-bottomed and painted white below the waterline. The model does not have masts or a bowsprit.
According to Obreen this model portrays the 24-gun frigate Eendragt, built by Willem Lodewijk van Gent in Harlingen in 1769.1 However, the model is built in exactly the same style, has the same colouring and even has the same picture frame as model NG-NM-8532 (compare), which is signed by its maker Charles Bentam (?-1758) – a very rare occurrence for a half model. Although Van Gent was a student of Bentam, he did have his own distinctive style of drawing and model building.2 This makes it rather doubtful that this model represents the Eendragt.
Scale (derived) approx. 1:48.
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 331; C.W.J. Schaap, ‘De Admiraliteit van Friesland. Haar vlagofficieren en schepen’, in Jaarverslag Fries Scheepvaartmuseum en Oudheidkamer (1982), pp. 43-77, pp. 56, 58, 60; Jaarverslag Fries Scheepvaartmuseum en Oudheidkamer (1983), pp. 19-20; A.A. Lemmers, Techniek op schaal. Modellen en het technologiebeleid van de Marine 1725-1885, Amsterdam 1996, pp. 33-35; A.J. Hoving and A.A. Lemmers, In tekening gebracht. De achttiende-eeuwse scheepsbouwers en hun ontwerpmethoden, Amsterdam 2001 (Bijdragen tot de Nederlandse marinegeschiedenis, vol. 12), pp. 42-43; 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, 'possibly Charles Bentam, Half Model of a 24-Gun Frigate, Amsterdam, c. 1740', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244141
(accessed 14 November 2024 03:55:39).