RUDOLF MARCUSE (Berlin, 1878 - London, 1929). "Junge Griechin, (1905). Sculpture in alabaster. Signed on the base. Size: 25 x 13 x 15 cm, 28 x 10 x 13 x 13 cm (with base). Rudolf Marcuse was a German sculptor of Jewish descent. Most of his works were designed for porcelain. His first professional lessons were at the Academy of Arts in Berlin with the sculptor Ernst Herter. In 1902, the Board of Trustees awarded him a scholarship. The following year, he was awarded the Michael Beer Prize for his "Judgement of Solomon". In 1909, he created one of his few major works, a monument to the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn at the Jewish Boys' School. It was destroyed in 1941 by members of the Sturmabteilung. In 1910, he received the "Prix de Rome" (inspired by the French Prix de Rome) from the Prussian Academy of Arts, which allowed him to stay at the Villa Strohl-Fern. In the same year, he won a gold medal at the Brussels International. During this period, he designed numerous statuettes in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles, which were produced by the bronze caster, Hermann Gladenbeck. He also designed porcelain figurines for the Schwarzburg Porcelain Workshops, the Royal Porcelain Factory in Berlin and the Rosenthal Manufactory. During the First World War, he visited several prisoner-of-war camps, where he created thirty-seven sculptures depicting the various ethnic types and nationalities among the prisoners. These were intended to be placed in a proposed "Reichskriegsmuseum" (National War Museum), which was never completed. As late as 1930, it was receiving monetary awards from the Prussian Ministry of Culture. This ended abruptly in 1933, when the National Socialist Party came to power and began rejecting his applications because of his 'non-Aryan race'. In 1936, thanks to his status as a "War Artist", he was allowed to emigrate to England. He died at his home in London, aged sixty-two.