Beschreibung:

Très rare groupe en porcelaine figurant Petruschka, Meissen, circa 1930-1933 A very rare Meissen group of Petruschka, circa 1930-1933Modelled by Paul Scheurich the female dancer with her arms raised and her right leg outstretched wearing a tutu and pink trousers, the male dancer leaning forwards and wearing a tunic decorated with silver stars and bells and striped trousers, a barrel organ between them, on a high elongated octagonal base decorated with a blue, iron-red and grey border, incised 'Scheurich' to the reverse of the organ, 27cm high, crossed swords and dot between the hilts in underglaze-blue to the rear of the base, incised model number A 1225, impressed former numeral 42 for Alexander Struck and incised LW 75 ('Massezeichen')FootnotesProvenance: Private commission for Alexander Struck (1902-1990), modeller and designer at the Meissen manufactory 1923-1968 Exhibited: Meissen, Museum der Meissen Porzellan-Stiftung, Paul Scheurich Porzellangestalter Zeichner Grafiker, 6 March 2020-21 February 2021 This example is the only decorated version of the period known outside of the manufactory. The model is based on another ballet first performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Berlin in December 1912. It is likely that Scheurich saw one of the performances at the time, but it is unknown why he created a porcelain group based on the ballet 18 years later in April 1930 (Rafael 1995a, p.92, no. 42). A sketch for the model has survived and was published in the magazine 'Sport im Bild', 37/14 (1931). The first example was formed in October 1930 and then fired and painted shortly thereafter. However, for an unknown reason the group was not included in the selling catalogues of the manufactory and only in 1943 were three white examples noted as sold. See Rafael 1995c for a full discussion of Scheurich's ballet models.