Model of a Batavian Coastal Telegraph

anonymous, c. 1798 - c. 1800

Model van een optische telegraaf op grondplankje. Het bestaat uit een gestutte mast met een ra en een vlaggesteng. Tussen twee van de vier schoren zijn sporten aangebracht om in de mast te klimmen. Met takels over blokken aan de ra worden twee met textiel bekleedde vlerken of vleugels halverwege de mast bewogen, en twee ballen aan de uiteinden van de ra op en neer gehesen; de ballen ontbreken. Schaal 1:45 (schaal op model).

  • Artwork typedemonstration model
  • Object numberNG-MC-817
  • Dimensionsheight 53.5 cm x width 15.5 cm x depth 12.5 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood, brass, textile and rope

anonymous

Model of a Batavian Coastal Telegraph

Netherlands, c. 1798 - c. 1800

Provenance

…; collection Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1765-1837), Amsterdam, 1807;1HNA 2.01.29.02 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. F no. 3. Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1837;2After the death of Asmus in 1837 models from his private collection remained in the Navy Model Room in The Hague and were henceforth considered an integral part of the collection of the Department of the Navy. transferred to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-817

Entry

Model of an optical telegraph, mounted on a octagonal pedestal.

The model consists of a shored mast with a yard and a flagpole. Between two of the four shores, rungs are fitted for climbing the mast. Two wings, covered with textile, attached halfway up the mast, are moved with tackles through blocks that hang from the yard, and two balls can be raised or lowered at the ends of the yard; the balls are missing.

This model is first mentioned as part of the private collection of Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837) in 1807.3HNA 2.01.29.02 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. F no. 3. Sixty-three of these ‘Batavian’ telegraphs made up the coastal signal stations along the North Sea coast between 1798 and 1801. Both wings and balls, when fittingly sized, can be seen from great distances.

It should be noted that balls are visible from all azimuths, but wings only when seen from the side. The wings were first used by Claude Chappe (1763-1805) in 1793, whereas balls used as signalling devices can be observed on sixteenth-century Spanish maps and were probably even used much earlier. Early Dutch coast signals used fish baskets instead of balls.

Scale (on model) 1:45.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 817; M. Parlange, Les signaux de la défense des côtes en Belgique, aux Pays-Bas et en Allemagne sous l’occupation française (1794-1814), The Hague/Brussels 1968; C.P.P. van Romburgh, De Hollandse kustbeseining. De Franse invloed op de technische en organisatorische ontwikkeling van de kusttelegrafen 1794-1813, Leiden 1989 (diss. Rijksuniversiteit Leiden); G. de Saint Denis, ‘Télégraphes et sémaphores en Europe du nord-ouest fin XVIIIe-début XIXème siècle’, in Bicentenaire du télégraphe Chappe. Colloque international des 13-14-15 Octobre 1993 (Fédération Nationale des Associations de personnel des Postes et Télécommunications pour la Recherche Historique) 1993, pp. 181-91; R. Korving and B. van der Herten, Een tijding met de snelheid des bliksems. De optische telegraaf in de Nederlanden (1800-1850), Alphen aan den Rijn 1997, pp. 59-68

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Batavian Coastal Telegraph, Netherlands, c. 1798 - c. 1800', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200315914

(accessed 12 December 2025 10:15:44).

Footnotes

  • 1HNA 2.01.29.02 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. F no. 3.
  • 2After the death of Asmus in 1837 models from his private collection remained in the Navy Model Room in The Hague and were henceforth considered an integral part of the collection of the Department of the Navy.
  • 3HNA 2.01.29.02 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. F no. 3.