Royal Copenhagen Compass Plates

Royal Copenhagen compass plates

The Royal Copenhagen compass plate from 1976 shows a cabin compass, originally manufactured by compass maker F. Meyer in Glückstadt in 1787. At first glance, the plate shows a nice compass rose and if we begin to look deeper, we see Mrs Justitia, the goddess of justice, in the middle with her large weight. Behind her we see a city and a coast with ships. Around her is a wheel with numbers and out from the wheel points four triangles surrounded by black lines from the four corners of the world. In each box we see a face that symbolizes north wind, south wind, eastern wind and western wind. In the other four triangular boxes are visible symbols of the four elements, air, water, soil and fire. The air is symbolized by a bird, the fire by a salamander, the water by a dolphin and the earth by a grazing cow.

The Royal Copenhagen Compass plates were published from 1970 to 1980 and are published with the help of the Trade and Maritime Museum Friends.