MIESNIA - State Porcelain Manufactory, Wydra

white porcelain; height: 24.5 cm, base: 9.5 x 9 cm (on a pentagon plan);
Signed on the back of the pedestal at the edge: imprint M.ESSER and cobalt under-glaze crossed swords; imprints on the underside: 119 ?, crossed swords, weißs inscription and:A.1221 (model number).
Meissen, Staatliche Porzellan Manufaktur, model by Max Esser (1885-1945), circa 1926, post-war realization (1961?).
Standing on a rocky base with lichen on the side is an otter on its hind legs, with its head turned backwards.
The sculpture is by one of the best German model-sculptors in porcelain in the interwar period. Esser worked with Meissen from 1919 to 1931, and from 1923 was head of the label's master atelier. The Otter was executed in red Böttger stoneware and porcelain; it won the Grand Prix at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris.