Lot # : 1 - Royal Dux Bohemia Equestrian Huntsmen Statue

Large Vintage Royal Dux Czech. Porcelain Fox Hunt Sculpture showing an 18th century Colonial Huntsman, carrying a French horn and wearing a sword, riding alongside a trio of hunting dogs. Dimensions * 19" x 18.5 x 9.5". Marked on the base with the incised numbers 11227 67 and the raised pink triangle mark of Royal Dux. Among the first porcelain manufacturers in West Bohemia, the factory in Duchcov Dux was founded in the year 1853. After the first timid attempts with producing utility ceramics goods from of raw materials mined in the closest surroundings, the factory was bought by the experienced model-drawer Eduard Eichler and turned into the firm E.Eichler Thonwaren-Fabrik. In 1862 he also bought the small factory in Šelty near Ceská Lípa. The manufactury experienced a period of prosperity and the goods produced here were mainly from terracota, faience and majolica in the genre of Copenhagen, Worcester and Sevrés . In 1878 the Eichler firm was awarded Silver Medal at the exhibition in Paris. At the turn of the 19th and 20th century a number of important changes occured. The factory reinforced its capital through the transformation of Eduard Eichler’s private property into a stock-holding company which in 1898 became to be known as Duxer Porzellan – Manufaktur, A-G. With the seat in Berlin. This newly established company bought the porcelain factory in Blankenhain near Weimar and the factory in Šelty was liquidated. The manufactury started to produce, apart from the traditional products, also porcelain. Since 1900 it has been using its traditional trade mark – made from rose - colored material in the form of a triangle with the inscription ROYAL DUX BOHEMIA and an acorn. This trade mark is still used up to this day. In the Vienna Secession period the manufaktury achieved most remarkable successes thanks to its model-designer Alois Hampel. Some of the articles introduced at that time have been produced up to these days. The factory was awarded the Grand Prix prize at the world exhibition in St. Louis in 1904, silver medal at the exhibition in Milano in 1906 and the gold medal at the exhibition in Liberec. It employed 500 workers and consisted of five round and seventeen muffle kilns, it had its own steam and power plant. The factory had its own sample store-houses and representatives in Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, London, Amsterdam, Bologne, Paris, Stockholm and Madrid. The products were mainly exported and the manufactury had trade connections with all Europe, including Russia and even with North America. This successful period was interrupted by war. Because of the specific character of produced goods the pre-war standard of production could not be maintained.