Model of a 24-Pounder Howitzer on a Ship's Carriage

...; collection Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837), Amsterdam, 1807;¹¹HNA 2.01.29.02 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. H no. 14. Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1837;²²After 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

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-762

Model of a howitzer on a carriage.

The howitzer is 15.8 cm long and has a 26 mm calibre. Written inscriptions are engraved on the barrel, along with crossed anchors and palm branches. It has two dolphins. The very short carriage consists of two parallel cheeks with two steps, connected by a transom, a cross-beam and the axletrees; the stool bed rests on the axletrees. The bolster can be set at different positions on the stool bed, with pins in a rim on the inner face of the cheeks. The axletrees are attached to the cheeks with braces, which can be removed. The model has double, equally sized wooden trucks.

The barrel belongs to a series of models with the same type of inscription. The model is mentioned by Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837) in 1807 as belonging to his private collection.³³HNA 2.01.29.02 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. H no. 14. The monogram on the barrel refers to the Admiralty of Rotterdam (Maze), which, however, no longer existed in 1800. The model of the carriage was probably made in Amsterdam.

The 24-gun schooners built in Amsterdam and Rotterdam in 1800 were armed with long cannon and carronades; howitzers were added because of a shortage of carronades. Both for the carronades and howitzers new carriages had to be designed, which caused many problems. In the end, the carriages were made in Amsterdam.

To inform the Rotterdam dockyard a model of a carriage for a 24-pounder howitzer, made in Amsterdam under the care of Asmus, was sent to Rotterdam. These carriages were not stable and often toppled over.

Scale (on model) 1:6.

J.N. Calten, Leiddraad bij het onderrigt in de zee-artillerie, Delft 1832, pp. 42, 55, 107, pl. II, fig. 3, pl. V, fig. 1; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 762

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Jochem Pietersz. Asmus or Jochem Pietersz. Asmus, Model of a 24-Pounder Howitzer on a Ship's Carriage, , 1800', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244576