New Mermaid!

The best thing about collectors is that they collect for others as well. So when my collector niece saw a mermaid plate at her friend’s “living estate sale” she knew it was for me. Her daughter gifted us the plate when she came to stay with us for a week.

There was a space waiting just for her in the bedroom. I was intrigued by her so I googled the name “Antoni” and Denmark which were on the back. In 1963 the artist Ib Antoni was commissioned by The Tourist Association of Copenhagen to make a poster to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the sculpture of The Little Mermaid on Langelinie in Copenhagen.

The plate was designed by Antoni for the Danish porcelain manufacturer Bing & Grondahl. I like the changes especially how the bird has hopped off the photographer’s head to occupy one point of the mermaid’s tail while the photographer now stands on the other.