Model of the 58-gun East Indiaman Merkurius

anonymous, 1747

This ship’s model was once a showpiece at the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company in Middelburg. In 1849 ownership of the by-then highly dilapidated model was transferred to the Naval Ministry, which had it restored. The model represents a characteristic type of East Indiaman built in Zeeland in the early 18th century. Although the model bears a name and year of construction, there is no mention of a Merkurius from 1747 in company records.

  • Artwork typeship model, show model, fully rigged model
  • Object numberNG-MC-652
  • Dimensionsheight 234 cm x length 290 cm x width 117 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood, brass, iron, mica, rope, textile and paint

anonymous

Model of a 58-Gun Dutch East Indiaman

? Middelburg, 1747

Inscriptions

  • inscription, on the stern:ANNO D.MERKURIUS 1747

Conservation

  • Restauratieatelier Nederlandse Geschiedenis, 1966: rerigged

Provenance

…; Kamer Zeeland der Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (Zeeland Chamber of the Dutch East India Company), Middelburg;1J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 652. transferred to the Ministerie van Financiën (Department of the Treasury), The Hague;2Ibid. transferred to the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1849;3Ibid. transferred to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-652

Entry

Polychromed and rigged wooden frame model of a three-masted ship with furled sails, mounted on a stand.

Sixty gun ports are indicated in three tiers. The armament was already missing in 1858. The small beakhead has a polychromed figure of Mercury with a winged helmet as a figurehead. The stern has a round tuck and a hollow counter pierced with four gun ports. The taffrail has two storeys and is ornamented with carvings of leafwork and animal figures and bears the coat of arms of Zeeland and of the city of Middelburg. The quarter galleries, decorated with carvings of foliage, are small, angled and closed. Below the stern a straight, square-headed rudder is indicated, and a steering wheel is fitted on the quarterdeck. The model has three anchors, a galley, one capstan, two pumps and a ship’s bell. The sheer rises towards both ends. The model has two double wales and one sheer rail. The hull is round and painted white below the waterline. The ship has a three-masted rig with all its sails. It has round mast caps and a lateen yard with a half mizzen.

The tuck of this model evidently has a transitory shape from a square to a round tuck, somewhat blunter than the round tuck because the fashion timbers are not yet cant timbers. Apparently this was a typical Zeeland feature in the early eighteenth century.

No Merkurius of 1747 of the Dutch East India Company is known to have existed. The model was a show model in the Oost-Indisch Huis in Middelburg until it was transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of the Navy in January 1849.4HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, inv. nos. 3921-3959. It was in a bad state and was first restored by model maker Petrus van der Loo (1806-1864) in Rotterdam. The rigging was revised in 1913.

Scale unknown.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 652; A. Loosjes, ‘De gebouwen der Oost-Indische Compagnie’, Buiten (1918), pp. 130-31, 154-55, 186-88, 201-03, 292-96, 304-07, 344-47, 448-54, 460-64, p. 451; L.G. Carr Laughton, Old Ship Figure-Heads and Sterns, London/New York 1925, p. 174, fig. d; P. de Roo de la Faille, ‘De gebouwen der Oostindische Compagnie’, Oudheidkundig Jaarboek 8 (1928), pp. 3-133, pp. 69-70; R. van Luttervelt, Oude schepen / Old Ships, Amsterdam 1957, nos. 22-23, 25; G.H.P. de Jonge, De Zeelandia (m 53). Verslag van het onderzoek naar de achtergrond van het scheepsmodel Zeelandia in het Maritiem Museum ‘Prins Hendrik’ te Rotterdam, s.l. 1986; K. Zandvliet et al., The Dutch Encounter with Asia 1600-1950, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2002, no. 82; R. Daalder and E. Spits, Schepen van de Gouden Eeuw, Zutphen 2005, pp. 83-90

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a 58-Gun Dutch East Indiaman, Middelburg, 1747', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200315849

(accessed 6 December 2025 20:49:34).

Footnotes

  • 1J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 652.
  • 2Ibid.
  • 3Ibid.
  • 4HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, inv. nos. 3921-3959.