Plate thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Plate

1958 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Blue jasper stoneware plate of shallow form, with spreading rim and low foot-ring, and decorated with applied white reliefs of a coelacanth fish in the centre, a fillet below and motto 'LATIMERIA CHALUMNAE J.L.S. SMITH', and on the rim are three shells and sea anemone.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Stoneware and applied reliefs
Brief description
Blue jasper stoneware plate of shallow form, with spreading rim and low foot-ring, and decorated with applied white reliefs, made by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd., Barlaston, 1958.
Physical description
Blue jasper stoneware plate of shallow form, with spreading rim and low foot-ring, and decorated with applied white reliefs of a coelacanth fish in the centre, a fillet below and motto 'LATIMERIA CHALUMNAE J.L.S. SMITH', and on the rim are three shells and sea anemone.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 16.8cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'LATIMERIA CHALUMNAE J.L.S. SMITH' (Motto in applied white relief on the plate)
  • 'WEDGWOOD / MADE IN ENGLAND / 58'
  • 'The first world famous / Coelacanth, / LATIMERIA CHALUMNAE / 5 feet long. captured in local / waters 22nd December 1938. / Type specimen exhibited / in the / East London Museum, / South Africa.' (Printed in black on the base)
Credit line
Given by the East London Museum
Object history
Plate made to commemorate the discovery in 1938 of the coelacanth fish, now in the East London Museum in South Africa.
Subjects depicted
Collection
Accession number
C.2-1960

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Record createdOctober 23, 2008
Record URL
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