Model of Composite Ship Camels Bearing a Ship under Construction

anonymous, c. 1697 - c. 1718

Gepolychromeerd model van een schip op scheepskamelen. Het scheepsmodel is een blokmodel van een schip in aanbouw, de bovenbouw is onvoltooid. Het schip heeft zes en twintig poorten op een dek, een gekroonde leeuw als schegbeeld, een gewrongen spiegel en hol wulf, hek en zijgalerijen zijn niet voltooid. Het schip is in de kamelen opgehangen door middel van korte balken door de geschutpoorten. De kameel aan stuurboord is samengesteld uit zes aaneengeschakelde stukken. Ieder stuk heeft een waterdicht schot in de lengte, twee pompen, twee spuien voor het vollopen, twee braadspillen en twee luiken, behalve het achterste stuk, dat twee extra pompen en spuien heeft. De bakboord scheepskameel is uit één stuk, maar verder identiek aan die van stuurboord.

  • Artwork typedemonstration model
  • Object numberNG-MC-23
  • Dimensionspackaging capsule: height 33.5 cm x width 97 cm x depth 48.5 cm, model: height 26.8 cm x width 92 cm x depth 37 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood, brass, rope and paint

anonymous

Model of Composite Ship Camels Bearing a Ship under Construction

? Italy, Italy, c. 1697 - c. 1718

Provenance

…; 's Lands Werf (Navy dockyard) Amsterdam, 18 April 1798;1HNA 2.01.29.02 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. K3 no. 7. 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-23

Entry

Polychromed wooden construction model of a ship supported by camels.

The ship model is a block model of a ship under construction, the upper section unfinished. It has twenty-six gun ports on one deck, a crowned lion for a figure, a round tuck, hollow counter; taffrail and quarter gallery are not finished. The ship is supported by the camels by means of short beams that go through the gun ports. The camel to starboard is composite, consisting of six linked sections. Each section has a longitudinal bulkhead, two pumps, two flooding cocks, two windlasses and two hatches, except for the aftermost section, which has two additional pumps and cocks. The camel to port consists of one piece, but is otherwise identical to the starboard one.

It is probably this model that Dockyard Superintendent Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837) mentions in a list of objects that had been transferred to him by his predecessor Jan Binkes in 1798.3HNA 2.01.29.02 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. K3 no. 7. This is a composite camel, which consisted of several sections linked together. The Italian engineer Vicenzo Coronelli (1650-1718) invented this improvement of the ship’s camel after his visit to Amsterdam in 1697. The advantage of Coronelli’s camels was that one could construct hem in any size by linking separate sections.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 23; R.M. Haubourdin et al., De physique existentie dezes lands. Jan Blanken, inspecteur-generaal van de waterstaat (1755-1838), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1987, no. 135; G. Boven and A. Hoving, Scheepskamelen & waterschepen. ‘Eene ellendige talmerij, doch lofflijk middel’, Zutphen 2009, pp. 35, 69

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of Composite Ship Camels Bearing a Ship under Construction, Italy, c. 1697 - c. 1718', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20053184

(accessed 12 December 2025 12:06:18).

Footnotes

  • 1HNA 2.01.29.02 Dept. Marine, Aanhangsel I, inv. no. 20, La. K3 no. 7.
  • 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. K3 no. 7.