Model of a Windsail

anonymous, c. 1850 - c. 1870

Model van een koelzeil. De vijf hoepels zijn van hout met touw omwonden. Het bovenste stuk tussen de eerste twee hoepels bestaat uit een vier stukken doek in een kruis aan elkaar genaaid; zo ontstaan vier openingen, één voor iedere windrichting. Het onderste deel is een doeken ventilatieschacht verstevigd met hoepels. Schaal 1:10 (volgens Obreen).

  • Artwork typedemonstration model
  • Object numberNG-MC-1231
  • Dimensionslength 120 cm x diameter 9.1 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood, brass, copper, textile and rope

anonymous

Model of a Windsail

Netherlands, Netherlands, c. 1850 - c. 1870

Provenance

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

Object number: NG-MC-1231

Entry

Model of a windsail. It has five wooden hoops covered with rope. The top section, between the first two hoops, consists of four sheets of cloth sewn together to form a cross: thus four entrances are created, one for each direction of the wind. The lower section is a cloth ventilation shaft strengthened with hoops.

F.W.J. Meijer’s design was inspired by the ventilator for mineshafts described by Agricola.1G. Agricola, De re metallica, (s.l. 1556) New York 1950 (trans. H.C. Hoover and L.H. Hoover). Meijer’s windsails were used successfully on guard ships in Batavia and Surabaya.

Scale (according to Obreen)2J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1231. 1:10.

Literature

G. Agricola, De re metallica, (s.l. 1556) New York 1950 (trans. H.C. Hoover and L.H. Hoover); J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1231; E. Pade, Kulsejlet og andre æeldre ventilations-systemer. En kulturhistorisk skitse, Copenhagen 1972, fig. on p. 41

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Windsail, Netherlands, c. 1850 - c. 1870', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20054194

(accessed 11 December 2025 07:00:11).

Footnotes

  • 1G. Agricola, De re metallica, (s.l. 1556) New York 1950 (trans. H.C. Hoover and L.H. Hoover).
  • 2J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1231.