Artificial Horizon

anonymous, anonymous, anonymous, c. 1830 - c. 1865

Kunstmatige horizon met waterpas en handgeschreven uitleg in mahoniehouten doos. De cirkelvormige horizon bestaat uit verduisterd glas op een loden plaat in een messing driepoot met verstelbare pootjes. De waterpas heeft bovenop een schaal van 0 in het midden tot 40 aan weerszijden; met een veer in de basis wordt de waterpas in de hoek waarin hij gezet wordt geborgd. De handgeschreven uitleg is in het Frans.

  • Artwork typemeasuring instrument
  • Object numberNG-MC-1031
  • Dimensionsbubble level: height 3.4 cm x width 15.5 cm x depth 2 cm, horizon: height 6 cm x diameter 13 cm, box: height 8.3 cm x width 17.7 cm x depth 17.5 cm, note: height 20.3 cm x width 11.8 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood, brass, iron, lead, glass, cloth, paper and water

anonymous, anonymous, anonymous

Artificial Horizon

Netherlands, Belgium, France, c. 1830 - c. 1865

Inscriptions

  • inscription, on a note, handwritten:De l'Erreur Causée par l'inclinaison / de l'Horison Artificiel avec l'horizon / vrai / [followed by description]
  • label, on the box:1031 former inventory label

Provenance

…; gift from Mr A. Klerck to the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague;1J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, no. 1031, manuscript in NHA 476, inv. no. 1089. transferred to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-1031

Entry

Artificial horizon with bubble level and explanatory note in a mahogany box.

The circular horizon is made of darkened glass on a lead plate in a brass tripod with adjustable feet. The bubble level has a scale on top, ranging from 0 in the middle to 40 either way. It has a spring in the base that keeps it at the angle to which it has been set by means of two bolts. The explanatory note is in French and signed ‘G’.

Artificial horizons are used to measure the altitude of a celestial body with a sextant or octant when a natural sea horizon cannot be seen.2An Inventory of the Navigation and Astronomy Collections in the National Maritime Museum Greenwich, 3 vols., coll. cat. Greenwich 1973, vol. 1, p. 2-1.

This artificial horizon was a gift from Mr A. Klerck to the Department of the Navy.3J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1031. It is almost identical to the instrument by Wegener in Berlin, described by Frederik Kaiser (1808-1872) in 1883.4P.J. Kaiser, Theorie en beschrijving der thans bij de Nederlandsche Marine in gebruik zijnde zeevaartkundige werktuigen, 2 vols., Leiden 1883, vol. 2, p. 140, pl. 13. In the third quarter of the nineteenth century the Dutch Navy much preferred mercury horizons.

Literature

P.J. Kaiser, Theorie en beschrijving der thans bij de Nederlandsche Marine in gebruik zijnde zeevaartkundige werktuigen, 2 vols., Leiden 1883, vol. 2, p. 140, pl. 13; J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1031; An Inventory of the Navigation and Astronomy Collections in the National Maritime Museum Greenwich, 3 vols., coll. cat. Greenwich 1973, vol. 1, p. 2-1.

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous or anonymous or anonymous, Artificial Horizon, Netherlands or Belgium or France, c. 1830 - c. 1865', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20054071

(accessed 24 December 2025 08:24:51).

Footnotes

  • 1J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, no. 1031, manuscript in NHA 476, inv. no. 1089.
  • 2An Inventory of the Navigation and Astronomy Collections in the National Maritime Museum Greenwich, 3 vols., coll. cat. Greenwich 1973, vol. 1, p. 2-1.
  • 3J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1031.
  • 4P.J. Kaiser, Theorie en beschrijving der thans bij de Nederlandsche Marine in gebruik zijnde zeevaartkundige werktuigen, 2 vols., Leiden 1883, vol. 2, p. 140, pl. 13.