Très rare groupe en porcelaine représentant une femme et sa suivante Maure, Meissen, circa 1918-1919 A very rare Meissen group of a lady with attendant ('Dame mit Mohr'), circa 1918-1919 Artist's Example, one of three early examples Modelled by Paul Scheurich as a seated lady in a wide gown embellished with blue bows and a pink bow collar around her neck, her attendant kissing her hand and wearing an elaborate outfit with a yellow turban, a doublet heightened in blue, trousers decorated with indianische Blumen and pointed shoes, on a stepped hexagonal base, incised 'Scheurich' to the rear of the base, 26.0cm high, 29cm wide, crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue, incised model number F 260, impressed 'Bossierer' numeral 69, painter's numeral 69 in brown (minor restoration to tips of his left fingers) Footnotes: Provenance: Paul Scheurich, thence likely to Max Adolf Pfeiffer (1875-1957), Director of the Meissen Manufactory 1918-33 Literature: Rafael 1995a, ills. 11.1-2 and 11.5; Rafael 1995d, ills. 3-5; Lechelt 2007, ill. 16 Exhibited: Meissen, Schauhalle der Staatlichen Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, Paul Scheurich 1883-1945 Porzellane für die Meissener Manufaktur, 21 September 1995-10 January 1996; Meissen, Museum der Meissen Porzellan-Stiftung, Paul Scheurich. Porzellangestalter Zeichner Grafiker, 6 March 2020-21 February 2021 The model for this group was commissioned by Nora Noëmi Allatini, née Meyer Cohen (1889-1954), the daughter of a Berlin banker, who in 1910 married an Englishman and moved to England in 1919. The plaster model was exhibited at the Autumn 1917 exhibition of the Berlin Secession (and published in Die Kunst 37 (1918), reproduced by Rafael 1995d, ill. 2). The Meissen manufactory was not able to purchase the model because it had been privately commissioned and this was one of the main reasons that Meissen entered into a contract with Scheurich in 1918. Nora Allatini did permit the Meissen manufactory to make three examples of the group in 1918: one for her, one for the Schauhalle at the manufactory, and one for Scheurich himself. Allatini received her example in March 1919 shortly before her departure for England. It is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, one of several works by Scheurich that Allatini (Mrs Bobbins, following her second marriage in 1927) bequeathed to the museum in 1954. The second example, for the manufactory Schauhalle, was taken to the Soviet Union after the war and is presumed lost. This group is probably Paul Scheurich's own example, and it is likely that it ended up in Max Adolf Pfeiffer's private possession. In April 1927, Pfeiffer wrote to Nora Bobbins to ask her to relinquish ownership of the model so that the manufactory could purchase it from Scheurich, who had been incapacitated by illness and mostly unable to work since August 1923. Bobbins agreed to sell the model for RM 3,000, while Scheurich received half the amount, and the manufactory was finally able to produce the group for sale to the public in two different painted versions. Despite being quite expensive compared to Scheurich's other figures and groups (RM 340 and RM 360), the group was a success and thirteen had been sold by the end of 1931. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com Overall in very good condition. The tips of his middle two fingers and his small finger on his left hand have some restoration. There is a minuscule shallow chip to underside edge of base.