Footnotes

The Berlin sculptor Max Esser was the most closely related independent artist working for the Meissen factory. From 1919 Max Esser was paid by Meissen for various models, including the famous Mandarin Duck and the large table centerpiece of Reinicke Fuchs, the fable made famous by Goethe. He would be paid 10% of any profit made on any of his models for 20 years to come, a clear sign of the value he had as an artist to the factory.

The complete table-centrepiece, including flower and fruit baskets, comprised 75 pieces, and in a letter from 1 June 1919 Esser writes about the modelling process: "Was nun den Tafelschmuck "Reinicke Fuchs" betrift, bin ich intensiv dei den Entwürfen im Massstab 1:2. Die ersten 13 Stücke, darunter die Haubtteile, stehen im Entwurf da, und gedenke ich in den nächsten Wochen den Gesamtentwurf fertig gestellt zu haben. [As for the table decoration 'Reineke Fuchs,' I am currently working intensively on the designs at a 1:2 scale. The first 13 pieces, including the main parts, are already drafted, and I plan to complete the overall design in the next few weeks.]."

Esser became thus involved in the designs for Reinicke Fuchs that he decided to move to Meissen temporarily in 1920. The entire project took Esser until 1926, and soon after the great recession of the late 1920s led to enormous inflation. It is not known if the entire table-centrepiece was ever sold commercially. (see: Marusch-Krohn, Caren, Meissener Porzellan 1918-1933. Die Pfeifferzeit, 1993, pp.105-108).

"Reinicke Fuchs" or Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical anthropomorpic fables which were widely popular througout Europe.