Ferdinand Preiss (1882 Erbach - 1943 Berlin) "Carmen". Original title Bronze, gilt, ivory, carved. Light coloured oynx base. Signed on the plinth. "Preiß fec.(it)" and titled. Carmen standing on a square plinth in a self-confident pose with her hair pinned up in a comb and wearing creoles as ear jewellery, her left hand resting on her waist and her right foot in front of her; dressed in a floral Spanish dress with gathered sleeves and fringes. Very finely carved and chiselled Art Nouveau chryselephantine statuette as a virtuoso artistic realisation of the famous figure from the opera by Georges Bizet. The important ivory carver and sculptor Ferdinand Preiss founded the company "Preiss & Kassler" in Berlin in 1906/07, and from around 1910 the first chryselephantine figures were also created in collaboration with the renowned Gladenbeck foundry based in Gladenbeck near Berlin. Figure h. 20 cm; total h. 30.8 cm. CITES certificate available. Cf./Lit.: Alberto Shayo: "Ferdinand Preiss. Art Deco Sculptor. The Fire and the Flame", Woodbridge 2005, illus. p. 75 (another example in the German Ivory Museum in Erbach) Gilt bronze and carved ivory chryselephantine figurine on onyx base. Signed and titled. CITES included.