ConNext-2021

22 Looking into Rijksmuseum’s Maritime Collection Provenance and Function of 18 th and 19 th Century Half Hull Models KEYWORDS: ship models, half-models, shipbuilding, ship design, maritime collections. The maritime collection of the Rijksmuseum contains around 1800 navy related models, including around 300 half hull models. Little is known about the function of these half models, their provenance and date of production. This paper describes how systematic technical research can contribute to the knowledge about half models. A half model is a scale model from the starboard or portside half of a ship hull, mounted on a wooden backboard. In the 18 th and 19 th century half models were produced on ship wharfs all over the Netherlands. They are constructed in wood, polychromed and finished with a transparent varnish. Sometimes a label is attached to the backboard, with information on the scale, name and provenance of the model. Often the ink with which this information is written has degraded and the information is hard to read. The function of half models is ambiguous. It is assumed that they played a role in the 18 th and 19 th century Dutch shipbuilding industry, but what role exactly is not defined. The production of half models flourished in the late 18 th century, half a century after ship design drawings were introduced in the Netherlands. Halfmodels may have been used as demonstrationmodels or merely as show pieces. Also, they could have been used to check 2D drawings in a 3D model. Finally, they could have been used as archival pieces. The aim of this research is to gain insight in the function, provenance and dating of the half models. By means of visual analysis, X-radiography and tool trace research, the production process is studied. Were the models built after drawings or were the drawings made after the models? Dendrochronological research will lead to more accurate dating of the models. Eventually, by clustering the models according to stylistic features, materials and tool traces, as well as dendrochronological data, they may be attributed to specific ship wharfs. This paper shares the preliminary results of this fascinating research. t.mol[at] rijksmuseum.nl