Officer, Life Guards, 1938
Officer, Life Guards, 1938
Officer, Life Guards, 1938
Officer, Life Guards, 1938
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, Officer, Life Guards, 1938
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, Officer, Life Guards, 1938
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, Officer, Life Guards, 1938
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, Officer, Life Guards, 1938

Officer, Life Guards, 1938

Regular price
£1,050
Sale price
£1,050
Regular price
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Tax included.

Pickup available at The Armoury of St. James's

Usually ready in 2 hours

Height: 29cm (11.5in) 

Mid 20th Century 

SAXON MILITARY PORCELAIN FIGURES

Of the numerous European porcelain factories that produced military figures during the 19th and 20th centuries, Sachsische Porzellan Manufaktur Dresden (the Dresden factory) stands out as the finest producer in terms of sculpting and painting.

The factory was founded in 1872 by Carl Thieme, an antiques dealer and porcelain retailer who employed porcelain workers from the bankrupt Buxdorf manufactory. By the 1890’s it was under the management of Karl August Kuntzsch, a talented modeller and employee of the Thieme family. Kuntzsch introduced the factory’s wares to foreign markets and it was under his tenure that the production of military figures began in 1912, with the series of French Napoleonic subjects, the first of these being an equestrian figure of Napoleon (an example of which may be seen at Winston Churchill's former home, Chartwell in Kent). However, owing to the antipathy between France and Germany arising from the war of 1870, these early pieces were often marked underneath with the signature of the French Imperial Sevres factory, presumably at the insistence of French retailers to disguise their German origins. In 1913 a series of Italian historical and military figures followed.

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