Dutch shipbuilding from the 17th to the 19th century
Material cultures and global influences
This research project explores the circulation of shipbuilding technology between the Dutch Republic and the Indian Ocean region from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century by studying VOC ship models, ship parts, ship paintings and records pertaining to these objects in the Rijksmuseum.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The shipyards of the Netherlands were prolific manufacturers of a variety of ships during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Their wide range of clientele across Europe and their extensive patronage by the newly globally expanding Dutch East India Company (VOC) meant that that ships built in this region and elements of their design and technology were, in effect, being exported globally. This was no unidirectional synthesis, however, because Dutch ships had to adapt to the vastly different geopolitical situations and rapidly changing commercial considerations in the seascapes they traversed. While shipwrights and master carpenters in the Netherlands rose to these challenges, it is equally important to consider the technologies and technical cultures learnt at overseas sites of commerce, and how these made their way into newer designs and practices of shipbuilding at home.
AIM OF THE PROJECT
This project is part of a larger study of the history of technologies and material cultures of shipbuilding in the early modern Indian Ocean region. Studying their embodied representations in material artefacts such as models and paintings promises to shed light on the broader impact of the sharing of technology and technical knowledge between the Dutch and their competitors and collaborators in the Indian Ocean.
Researchers
Urna Mukherjee
u.mukherjee@rijksmuseum.nl
Mellon fellow
Jeroen ter Brugge
j.ter.brugge@rijksmuseum.nl
Curator of Maritime Collections
PARTNERS AND SPONSORS
This fellowship is made possible by the Mellon Foundation, and is part of the Rijksmuseum Fellowship Programme.