Ship Lantern

anonymous, 1650 - 1700

Ship’s lanterns, 17th century. Large vessels sometimes carried as many as five of these lanterns. They would be fixed to the stern of the ship. Candles burned inside to produce the light. The original mica or horn between the carved figures is missing.

  • Artwork typeship lantarn
  • Object numberNG-MC-1052
  • Dimensionsheight 335 cm x diameter 121 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood and iron

anonymous

Ship Lantern

Netherlands, 1650 - 1700

Provenance

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

Object number: NG-MC-1052

Entry

Octagonal ship lantern with dome-shaped roofing. Each of the eight side bars is ornamented with a human figure, some are of women in classical dress, some are of Dutch merchants.

This stern lantern probably came from a seventeenth-century Dutch warship. Its design is identical to that of lantern NG-MC-1051, but slightly smaller. It is likely that the ship originally had three lanterns; the tallest one fitted in the middle, the smaller two in both corners.

Literature

J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1052; L.G. Carr Laughton, Old Ship Figure-Heads and Sterns, London/New York 1925, pp. 158-60; R. van Luttervelt, Oude schepen / Old Ships, Amsterdam 1957, no. 17

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Ship Lantern, Netherlands, 1650 - 1700', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20054080

(accessed 7 December 2025 15:40:32).