Chest with six artillery models

Pieter Verbruggen (1735-1786), Jan Verbruggen, 1778

Houten kist met zes fraai uitgevoerde bronzen geschutmodellen. De geschutmodellen, twee mortieren, een houwitser en drie kanonnen, zijn allemaal in de lengte doorgesneden om de ziel te kunnen laten zien. Alle lopen behalve het kleinste kanon zijn voorzien van dolfijnen, het zundgat van de twee mortieren en de houwitser heeft de vorm van een schelp. Alle lopen zijn van tappen voorzien, bij de mortieren onderaan. Hierbij behoren vier documenten die in de valse bodem van de kist gevonden zijn. Schaal 1:12 (afgeleid).

  • Artwork typechest, presentation model, gunmodel
  • Object numberNG-MC-1130-A
  • Dimensionsheight 22 cm x width 43.3 cm x depth 29.1 cm
  • Physical characteristicsbronze, wood, brass, iron, cloth and paper

Pieter Verbruggen (1735-1786), Jan Verbruggen

Box Containing Six Models of Guns and Four Documents

United Kingdom, United Kingdom, 1778

Inscriptions

  • date

Provenance

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

Object number: NG-MC-1130-A

Entry

Wooden box containing six beautifully executed bronze gun models (NG-MC-1130-A) and four documents which were found in the false floor of the box (NG-MC-1130-B). The gun models (two mortars, a howitzer and three cannon) are all bisected longitudinally to show the inside of the bore. All of the guns, except for the smallest, have dolphins; the two mortars and the howitzer have shell-shaped vent pans. All have trunnions, the mortars at the base.

Careful measurement by R. Roth has yielded the scale and identification of the models as a 13-inch Sea Service Mortar, a 13-inch Land Service Mortar, a 10-inch howitzer, an 8-foot Desaguliers Heavy 6-pounder, a 5-foot Armstrong Frederick Medium 6-pounder, and an older pattern Light 6-pounder, length 4 feet 6 inches. Calibres: SS mortar 27.5 mm; LS mortar 27.5 mm; howitzer 21.6 mm; heavy 6-pounder 7.75 mm; medium 6-pounder 8.3 mm; light 6-pounder 7.9 mm. The documents represent descriptions of British ordnance of 1778 (see inscriptions), two of them with drawings (1 and 2). Jan Verbruggen (1712-1781) was Master Founder at the Admiralty Bell and Cannon Foundry at Enkhuizen from 1746 until his appointment to the The Hague State Ordnance Factory in 1755, where his son Pieter (1735-1786) joined him. They used a new technique of solid casting and barrel boring, but after numerous enquiries and criticisms ceased production in 1765. In spite of this blow to their reputation they were appointed joint Master Founders at the Royal Brass Foundry at Woolwich by the British Board of Ordnance in 1770, where they introduced a new type of horizontal boring machine.

Scale (derived) 1:12.

Literature

J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1130; H.L. Blackmore, The Armouries of the Tower of London, vol. 1, London 1976, p. 77; C. de Beer, The Art of Gunfounding: The Casting of Bronze Cannon in the Late 18th Century, Rotherfield 1991; J.B. Kist, ‘Geschut van vader en zoon Verbruggen’, in H. Stevens (ed.), The Art of Technology: The Navy Model Collection in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam/Wormer 1995, pp. 24-25; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 76-79

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Pieter (1735-1786) Verbruggen or Jan Verbruggen, Box Containing Six Models of Guns and Four Documents, , 1778', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200316076

(accessed 11 December 2025 07:33:54).