Looking Back: The Box secures significant funding to keep rare work of art in the UK
4 September 2025
In early 2020, The Box announced that it had raised nearly a quarter of a million pounds from five key funders to save a rare piece of 19th century studio pottery for the nation. As we get closer to our fifth anniversary on 29 September 2025, we look back at this significant addition to the art collection.
Although it's not currently on display, the art work has become a firm favourite with visitors, volunteers and staff and is affectionately known behind the scenes as 'Colin the Crab'. It's a large, humorous sculpture of an anthropomorphic crab measuring almost half a metre long with grinning eyes, a curling moustache, cropped beard and smile of uneven teeth.
It was made in June 1880 by Robert Wallace Martin (1843-1923) and is the earliest, largest surviving sculpture by him in the UK.
Robert Wallace Martin, Walter Martin (1857-1912), Edwin Martin (1860-1915) and Charles Martin (1860-1910), collectively known as the Martin Brothers, are considered the first art potters of Britain and excelled as designers and makers.
In the 1800s Britain was fascinated both with natural history and the macabre. The Martin Brothers recognised this and explored the decorative potential of the knobbly, crooked, wiry and curious through their work particularly Robert, who had trained as a sculptor and was the most experimental of them all, creating ‘grotesques’ and other works that fused specimens from nature with human features.
Until 2020, the crab had been held in private collections. The only other known work of this scale is believed to be in a private collection in the USA. In 2019, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport placed an export bar on the sculpture in a bid to keep it in the UK.
Thanks to five awards of £137,200 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, £30,050 from Art Fund, £20,000 from the Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, £15,000 from the Henry Moore Foundation and £10,000 from the Decorative Arts Society, the work has remained in the UK and become part of The Box’s permanent collections.
Councillor Tudor Evans OBE, Leader of Plymouth City Council said:
This amazing fundraising effort signified the ambition of The Box and the start of an exciting opening year for our fantastic museum, art gallery and archive.
Arts Minister at the time Helen Whately said:
The Martin Brothers' crab is a remarkable sculpture. It is truly one-of-a-kind. Our export bar system exists so that we can keep important works like this in the UK, and I want to thank everyone who contributed to help save it for the nation.
As well as being a significant addition to The Box’s existing and popular collection of Martinware, the crab also connects with the natural history collections and has provided inspiration for family events and STEM activities for schools. It was most recently seen in the Planet Ocean exhibition that ran from 16 March 2024-27 April 2025.
Art Curator at The Box, Terah Walkup said:
Although the crab looks amusing on first sight it’s a truly unique object that stretches the boundaries of art and science with its combination of anatomical detail and human expression. Its scale and design mark an important moment in the Martin Brothers’ production. It’s a really ambitious work.
'Colin' will no doubt feature in future exhibitions and displays here at The Box. In the meantime, you can discover more about this significant work of art and its creator Robert Wallace Martin on our YouTube channel.