Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

cornelistromp · 16th January 2012, 06:47 PM

Of the person Pieter Seest are not many details preserved. Seest had
registered in the city of Amsterdam and was married. He got work in, the since 1614 existing guns and bell foundry on the corner of de Karthuizerstraat en de Baangracht.
Much later he became director of the foundry. This can be read in a number of official pieces. But what do they tell about the person Pieter Seest?
We read that he is Born in Holstein, northern Germany, in 1716. He came as a foreigner to Amsterdam, one of the richest cities. In itself nothing special. His predecessors in the foundry were almost all foreigners; from 1681 to 1699 Claude Fremy from a Lotharingen family, from 1699 to 1715 Claes Noorden, also from the city Holstein and Jan Albert de Graven of Celle in West Germany from 1699 to 1729.
Between 1730 and 1734 was Nicolaus Muller the founder master, a man with a real German name.

The direct predecessor of Pieter Seest was the famous and prolific caster Cyprianus Crans. About 1750 Pieter entered the service with him. Because there was peacetime a lot of church bells were cast. But the East India
Company (VOC) was a constant customer of mainly light artillery. Orders for
big guns came mainly from Portugal. So there are still big guns of the Crans
Artillery in the Army Museum in Lisbon and on the old ramparts of Tanger.

Pieter must have worked on this piece. When Cyprianus died in 1755 he became the master caster.
The Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC should have had faith in Peter, because
orders continued to come in light artillery. In the collection of the 2006 deceased gun collector H. L. Visser Wassenaar were not less than eighteen small guns (Most halfponders) of Seest, all cast for the VOC.
Seest also has many church bells cast, of which several exist today.
Unfortunately claimed the Germans in World War II many church bells. These were melted for the war industry. Maybe the last product of a Seest
cast was a mortar. This piece is on the walls of the Moroccan city of Essaouira.
According to legend, it is cast by Pieter Seest and sons in 1782. He has started already in 1781 and then deceased. His sons Christiaan and Jan must have completed the piece, because in 1781 they took control over the foundry.

(translated from het bronzen kanon van de kleine werf/ Nico Brinck)
picture of Oost indisch huis Amsterdam.

16th January 2012, 06:47 PM	#7
cornelistromp Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1,060	Of the person Pieter Seest are not many details preserved. Seest had registered in the city of Amsterdam and was married. He got work in, the since 1614 existing guns and bell foundry on the corner of de Karthuizerstraat en de Baangracht. Much later he became director of the foundry. This can be read in a number of official pieces. But what do they tell about the person Pieter Seest? We read that he is Born in Holstein, northern Germany, in 1716. He came as a foreigner to Amsterdam, one of the richest cities. In itself nothing special. His predecessors in the foundry were almost all foreigners; from 1681 to 1699 Claude Fremy from a Lotharingen family, from 1699 to 1715 Claes Noorden, also from the city Holstein and Jan Albert de Graven of Celle in West Germany from 1699 to 1729. Between 1730 and 1734 was Nicolaus Muller the founder master, a man with a real German name. The direct predecessor of Pieter Seest was the famous and prolific caster Cyprianus Crans. About 1750 Pieter entered the service with him. Because there was peacetime a lot of church bells were cast. But the East India Company (VOC) was a constant customer of mainly light artillery. Orders for big guns came mainly from Portugal. So there are still big guns of the Crans Artillery in the Army Museum in Lisbon and on the old ramparts of Tanger. Pieter must have worked on this piece. When Cyprianus died in 1755 he became the master caster. The Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC should have had faith in Peter, because orders continued to come in light artillery. In the collection of the 2006 deceased gun collector H. L. Visser Wassenaar were not less than eighteen small guns (Most halfponders) of Seest, all cast for the VOC. Seest also has many church bells cast, of which several exist today. Unfortunately claimed the Germans in World War II many church bells. These were melted for the war industry. Maybe the last product of a Seest cast was a mortar. This piece is on the walls of the Moroccan city of Essaouira. According to legend, it is cast by Pieter Seest and sons in 1782. He has started already in 1781 and then deceased. His sons Christiaan and Jan must have completed the piece, because in 1781 they took control over the foundry. (translated from het bronzen kanon van de kleine werf/ Nico Brinck) picture of Oost indisch huis Amsterdam. Attached Images Last edited by cornelistromp; 16th January 2012 at 06:58 PM.