Model of a Caisson

anonymous, anonymous, c. 1800

Spantmodel van een schipdeur met dubbele kiel, incompleet. Aan de ene zijde is de schipdeur geheel afgewerkt, de andere kant is open. Drie dekken, en in de lengte in twee compartimenten ingedeeld. Twee kleine spuigaten onder aan de gesloten zijde, de afsluiters ontbreken. Er zijn uitsparingen voor slechts één pomp aan iedere kant. Het model lijkt veel op NG-MC-991 en past in diens sponningen.

  • Artwork typedemonstration model
  • Object numberNG-MC-5
  • Dimensionsmodel: height 18 cm x width 38.8 cm x depth 15.7 cm, packaging capsule: height 26 cm x width 45 cm x depth 21 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood and brass

anonymous, anonymous, after Antoine Groignard

Model of a Caisson

Netherlands, France, France, c. 1800

Provenance

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

Object number: NG-MC-5

Entry

Wooden frame model of a double-keeled caisson for a dry dock.

One side of the caisson is finished, the other side is open. The caisson has three decks and is divided into two compartments lengthwise. On the closed side there are two small floodgates, the valves are missing. There are sockets for one pump only on either side. This model is very similar to model NG-MC-991 and it fits in to its bed.

This caisson was invented by the French engineer Antoine Groignard (1727-1799) and was used for the first time at the dry dock in Toulon in 1778.1See model NG-MC-4. Although caissons were by no means a novelty at the time, Groignard’s design introduced some major improvements.2J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 5.

A similar model is in the collection of the Teylers Museum in Haarlem.3Haarlem, Teylers Museum, inv. no. FK 1793.01, see G.l’E. Turner, Van Marum’s Scientific Instruments in Teyler’s Museum, in E. Lefebvre and J.G. de Bruijn (eds.), Martinus van Marum: Life and Work, 6 vols., vol. 2, Leiden 1973, pp. 127-401, no. 76.

Scale unknown.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 5; G.l’E. Turner, Van Marum’s Scientific Instruments in Teyler’s Museum, in E. Lefebvre and J.G. de Bruijn (eds.), Martinus van Marum: Life and Work, 6 vols., vol. 2, Leiden 1973, pp. 127-401, no. 76

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous or anonymous, Model of a Caisson, Netherlands, c. 1800', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20053169

(accessed 13 December 2025 10:13:21).

Footnotes

  • 1See model NG-MC-4.
  • 2J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 5.
  • 3Haarlem, Teylers Museum, inv. no. FK 1793.01, see G.l’E. Turner, Van Marum’s Scientific Instruments in Teyler’s Museum, in E. Lefebvre and J.G. de Bruijn (eds.), Martinus van Marum: Life and Work, 6 vols., vol. 2, Leiden 1973, pp. 127-401, no. 76.