STYLE: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics
STYLE: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics
A RARE MEISSEN 'SEA LIFE' CHESS SET, CIRCA 1925
Lot Closed
October 21, 07:16 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A RARE MEISSEN 'SEA LIFE' CHESS SET, CIRCA 1925
designed by Professor Max Esser, comprising thirty-two chess pieces modelled as sea creatures, painted in black and red enamels, and a matching chess board molded on two sides with waves and sea foam and on the other two sides with octopuses, crossed swords and dot marks in underglaze-blue, the board with incised shape number A.1083, the pieces with incised shape numbers
width of board 20½ in.
52 cm
Max Esser (1885-1945) was a German sculptor. From 1900 to 1903 he attended the Unterrichtsanstalt Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin, under the schooling of animal sculptor August Gaul. Before working for Meissen, like his contemporary Paul Scheurich, Esser designed models for Schwarzburger Werkstätten für Porzellankunst in Unterweißbach. By September 1919 Esser was designing models for Meissen becoming Workshop Master in 1923.
A second example of this rare form was in the Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, sold, Sotheby's New York, November 21-23, 2014, lot 319.