...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-305

Polychromed wooden half bracket model of the starboard side of a three-masted ship, mounted on a rectangular wooden backboard.

The side of the ship is depicted by ribbands attached to frame moulds. Fifteen gun ports are indicated by white frames situated on the lower gun deck, of which one is now missing, and nine additional gun positions are sparsely indicated on the upper gun deck. The model does not indicate any details of the forecastle or quarterdeck, their presence is only suggested by the remnants of the upper gun ports. The sheer rises slightly towards both ends. Two wales and a sheer rail are indicated, all are painted black. The bow features an empty beakhead and a black knighthead. The stern has a round tuck and a hollow counter. The model does not have a taffrail or quarter galleries. Below the stern a straight, square-headed rudder is indicated. The hull is S-bottomed and painted white below the waterline. The position of three masts and the bowsprit is shown in a truncated form.

The model does not have an inventory label and its identification, derived by elimination only, therefore remains uncertain.¹¹A. Lemmers (ed.), Maritime Technology from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam: Multimedia Catalogue of the Dutch Navy Model Collection 1698-1889, coll. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1995, no. 305. Obreen’s catalogue entry for this model, number 305, as the 50-gun Minerva seems to be incorrect.²²J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 305. Minerva was a 32-gun frigate, built in Flushing from 1804 to 1805 and broken up in 1835.³³A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 11. The fifteen gun ports on the lower gun deck of the model instead indicate a 50-gun frigate, which is confirmed by the inscription on the model.

Scale unknown.

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 305; A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 11

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Half Model of a 50-Gun Frigate, Netherlands, c. 1780 - c. 1820', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20066270