Mannheim Bust

This is a very rare figural bust of the Pallas Athene - the virgin Greek goddess of wisdom, fertility, the useful arts, and prudent warfare. The figure was made by the Rheinische Porzellanfabrik Mannheim in about 1907. I never even knew this place existed until I started doing a bit of research on a previous piece of mine which was the first painted figurine I had ever seen by them - this bust being the second piece now. This maker bought a few of the original Frankenthal molds around 1907 after which they started making copies of these right away which were marked with the crown over CT mark just like the original pieces. In a very rare occasion they also marked them with their own shield mark with a star above it and the letters RPM inside which are hard to see. Their figurines are extremely rare and painted ones about as rare as they come in the world of porcelain. In the books only white pieces are shown but it does say they also painted some. The figurine is superbly modeled since it is a Frankenthal model and the painting is also amazing much better than what one usually sees on later redos so someone in Manheim was an ace in that department! The figurine is of a nice size being 8 inches tall, 4 inches deep and 7.25 inches wide. The bust is in great condition with one tiny glaze chip to the neck area - or they ground a little black spec away there which is a common thing to do - hard to spot - and a tiny bit of wear to the gold trim around the hat and the tip of the nose. This is a very rare piece and shows us again how complex the field of porcelain really is. Something new to find and learn about every day which is why I enjoy it so much. The owner of Mannheim tried to sell the peices to Nymphenburg but they had no interest except in that they used the CT mark under a crown which was owned by Nymphenburg and thus they told them to grind all these marks out of their pieces or else which they complied with. The mold were soon after sold to a museum group by 1908 so very few pieces were even made and fewer are painted and marked with both the CT mark and their impressed mark. An amazing piece! The bust is marked with the under glaze blue CT under a crown mark, another blue mark which was scratched out a bit and the rare impressed shield mark on the inside as shown. Please email me for more information or other pictures.