Antique Girl with Basket porcelain figurine, Conta and Boehme 1870-1890 Ref. OR3
Conta and Boehme, a German company of Pössneck in Saxony, are possibly best known for their ‘fairings’ which they produced by the thousand, all to be sold on markets in England, and, later in the States. But, they also produced some lovely figurines, dolls, chinaware, tableware, tea-sets, cups and saucers and decorative porcelain which cannot be really classed as fairings. The company was established in 1790 and was still listed in the German trade directory in 1937 although the manufacture of fairings is believed to have stopped at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Always way ahead of their opposition, they had perfected production methods to such a high degree that no other factory could compete against them. And, they produced quality items, solid castings in a soft paste porcelain, superbly hand-painted, while their competitors produced hollow pieces with poorer decoration. In 1880, they exhibited at the Melbourne (Australia) Exhibition.
Prior to 1870, Conta & Boehme pieces were not marked. Examples produced after this time can be identified from either an impressed or raised mark depicting an enclosed shield decorated with a raised arm wielding a sword. From the 1890s, the shield mark was printed and the words Made in Germany were added to the base along with a four-digit impressed design number.
The Girl with Basket shows the impressed number 1141, a further impressed number 143 and a painted'151'which is likely to be the artist's number. These figurines were all hand-painted and the number was for identification of the artist when it came to payment of wages. These marks are found on the base, together with the impressed shield mark of Conta and Boehme, but, without the “Made in Germany’' so it can be fairly well dated to between 1870 – 1890.The figurine stands roughly 15.5 cm high with a base of around 6cm in diameter. In her right hand, she holds an ice-cream cone whilst holding a basket on her left arm. Dressed in a typical Bavarian dress of the day, showing small flowers. She is in very good overall condition with little loss of gilding, the paint still being very crisp and with no cracks nor chips.
Please note, I am NOT a qualified archaeologist/antiquarian and the description I have given is based on research of the subject.
This is a genuine antique. The classification of an 'antique' is that it should be 100 years old, OR MORE. There are many articles being offered as 'antiques' when, clearly, they are not.
Price R480.00
Post R60.00
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