"Bear" from the "Reineke Fuchs" centrepiece. Max Esser for Meissen. 1922. Max Esser1885 Barth - 1945 Berlin Porcelain, glazed and painted in brown, black, coral and purple onglaze colours and partially heightened with gold. Bear sitting on a stool and turning around. Underneath the sword mark in underglaze blue, the embossed fox mark as well as the incised model number "H245" and the embossed leno figure. Furthermore, the painter's number "69" in onglaze brown. Signed and dated in gold on the base "M. Esser 1922", signed on the reverse side of the base (indistinct). Artist's copy. Design year: 1922. Between 1919 and 1926, Max Esser created the "Reineke Fuchs" centrepiece consisting of 75 pieces, an arrangement of candlesticks, flower bowls, groups of animals and individual animals based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's'' epic in twelve songs . The centrepiece was conceived as a reference to Baroque table culture as a Gesamtkunstwerk and is considered one of the major works of the Pfeiffer period. Lit.: Marusch-Krohn, C.: Meissener Porzellan 1918-1933 - Die Pfeifferzeit, Leipzig, 1993, p. 107f. One leaf bumped, but the two fragments preserved for restoration.Large leaf professionally restored at the base of the leaf on verso. Verso at the lower back a production-related glaze flaw (l. 17 mm), slightly above a minimal glaze unevenness. Minimal irregularities in the mass and glaze due to the manufacturing process. Dimensions: H. 24,8 cm. Max Esser 1885 Barth - 1945 Berlin German sculptor.1900 Start of a sculptor's apprenticeship in Berlin. Attends the evening school at the Königliches Kunstgewerbemuseum and the academic college. 1903 Enters the class of August Gaul. 1906 First participation in the Great Berlin Art Exhibition. From 1908 employee in the Schwarzburg workshops for porcelain art in Unterweißbach. Artistic breakthrough through the sale of the sculpture "Guinea Fowl" to the Berlin National Gallery in 1912. 1918-31 works almost exclusively for the Meissen porcelain manufactory, from 1920 also lives there. 1924 head of a master studio. Later produces porcelain models for Hutschenreuther, the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin and Rosenthal. Grand Prix for the sculpture "Otter" at the World Exhibition Paris 1937.