Object data
wood, brass, textile and rope
height 53.5 cm × width 15.5 cm × depth 12.5 cm
anonymous
Model of a Batavian Coastal Telegraph
Netherlands, c. 1798 - c. 1800
Provenance
…; collection Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1765-1837), Amsterdam, 1807;1 Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1837;2 transferred to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-817
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Model of an optical telegraph, mounted on a octagonal pedestal.
The model consists of a shored mast with a yard and a flagpole. Between two of the four shores, rungs are fitted for climbing the mast. Two wings, covered with textile, attached halfway up the mast, are moved with tackles through blocks that hang from the yard, and two balls can be raised or lowered at the ends of the yard; the balls are missing.
This model is first mentioned as part of the private collection of Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837) in 1807.3 Sixty-three of these ‘Batavian’ telegraphs made up the coastal signal stations along the North Sea coast between 1798 and 1801. Both wings and balls, when fittingly sized, can be seen from great distances.
It should be noted that balls are visible from all azimuths, but wings only when seen from the side. The wings were first used by Claude Chappe (1763-1805) in 1793, whereas balls used as signalling devices can be observed on sixteenth-century Spanish maps and were probably even used much earlier. Early Dutch coast signals used fish baskets instead of balls.
Scale (on model) 1:45.
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 817; M. Parlange, Les signaux de la défense des côtes en Belgique, aux Pays-Bas et en Allemagne sous l’occupation française (1794-1814), The Hague/Brussels 1968; C.P.P. van Romburgh, De Hollandse kustbeseining. De Franse invloed op de technische en organisatorische ontwikkeling van de kusttelegrafen 1794-1813, Leiden 1989 (diss. Rijksuniversiteit Leiden); G. de Saint Denis, ‘Télégraphes et sémaphores en Europe du nord-ouest fin XVIIIe-début XIXème siècle’, in Bicentenaire du télégraphe Chappe. Colloque international des 13-14-15 Octobre 1993 (Fédération Nationale des Associations de personnel des Postes et Télécommunications pour la Recherche Historique) 1993, pp. 181-91; R. Korving and B. van der Herten, Een tijding met de snelheid des bliksems. De optische telegraaf in de Nederlanden (1800-1850), Alphen aan den Rijn 1997, pp. 59-68
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Batavian Coastal Telegraph, Netherlands, c. 1798 - c. 1800', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200315914
(accessed 12 December 2025 08:30:34).