Object data
wood and copper
total: length 26.5 cm
span 19 cm
anchor stock: width 14.6 cm
J.M. Polders
Model of an Anchor
Netherlands, United Kingdom, 1824
Inscriptions
- inscription, at the bottom: 26,,0,,0.
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-610
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Wooden model of an anchor with a most peculiar shape.
The stock and arms have changed places: the flat shank widens to form a bent arm about midway, which has no flukes but on which an oval-shaped copper plate with pointed ends is fastened. The straight stock at the end of the shank is very thick and roughly triangular in section, the narrow part pointing to the rear. It turns on the shank. The weight of the stock and the oval shape of the arm ensure that the anchor will lie correctly. There is a shackle at the end of the shank and one in the middle of the stock.
The identification of this model is uncertain. According to Obreen an anchor of this type was observed on the British sloop of war Marten by Captain J.M. Polders,1 who subsequently made the model and wrote a three-page letter explaining the workings of the anchor.2 It is similar to William Rodgers’ mooring anchor of 1819. The anchor performed well in mud and was not easily fouled, but it was difficult to handle because of its heft.
Scale unknown.
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 610; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 200-03
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'J.M. Polders, Model of an Anchor, Netherlands, 1824', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244425
(accessed 14 November 2024 20:58:59).