Description:
This round white tin-glazed plate is decorated with an orange and blue rope-motif on the cavetto. Then there are four scrolls bearing the names “FOCH”, “ERZBERGER”, “WILSON” and “LLOYD GEORGE”. Inside the central oval panel surrounded by a laurel wreath are the words “WAPENSTILSTAND, 11-11, 1918, 11 UUR V.M” and two doves of peace are perched on top of the wreath. Below the wreath is a rising sun and two swords, the one broken and the other supporting a small laurel wreath. The four names on the plate all played important roles in the war and in the signing of the armistice. Ferdinand Foch was Marshall of France during the final stages of World War I and signed for France; Matthias Erzberger, a German politician signed for Germany. Although not formally at the signing of the Armistice, Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister, was represented by Admiral Rosslyn Erskine Wemyss. Although the name of Woodrow Wilson, the President of the USA appears on the plate, he was not represented at the meeting. On 11 November 1918 a formal armistice was signed between Germany and the Allies in a railroad carriage at Compiégne in France.