Girl at the Fountain, ivory, bronze, marble, Ferdinand Price, circa 1925
Ferdinand Price, one of the six children of Karl Daniel Heinrich Price, was orphaned at an early age. His parents died when he was 15 years old. The children were cared for by relatives and friends. Ferdinand was taken under the tutelage of Philip Wilmann, an ivory carver. In his workshop, the creative path of Ferdinand Price began.
Judith, height 32.5 cm, ivory, bronze, marble, Ferdinand Price, circa 1920
He founded Preiss Kassler with friend Arthur Kassler, with Kassler becoming a business partner and Price in charge of art production. Since 1910, the firm began to specialize in cabinet sculpture in the Art Deco style. Figurines that used painted bronze with ivory are called chryselephantine. The figurines were mounted on onyx and marble pedestals and produced in limited editions. Ferdinand Price was the first to use a dental bur for more accurate and faster carving of ivory.
The company’s products were exported to England and the USA. In England, a small workshop was set up to assemble sculptures from prefabricated parts. Preuss died of a brain tumor on July 29, 1943, and his firm closed. The workshop that kept the models burned down in a bomb blast shortly before the end of World War II.
Ferdinand Price is considered one of the most talented sculptors of the Art Deco era, along with Demeter Ciparus, and his sculptures are highly valued by contemporary collectors.
Onyx bowl supported by Greek figures, ivory, bronze.Girl leading a horse, ivory, bronze, marble.Ballerina, height 10.2 cm, ivory, bronze, marble, 1900.Ferdinand Price (1882 – 1943).Pair of bookends in the form of a figurine of a young man in medieval clothes. The first holds a falcon, the other reads, height 20 cm, ivory, bronze, marble.Clock decorated with figurines of a boy and a girl in Moorish clothes, height 19 cm, ivory, bronze, onyx.Moor boy, height 20 cm, ivory, bronze, onyx, 1920.Boy with bow, height 19 cm, ivory, onyx, circa 1925.Boy with a cornucopia, height 5 cm, ivory, circa 1930.Paired bookends modeled as figurines in court dress. Girl holding a bunch of keys and a page boy holding a box, height 13 cm, ivory, bronze, onyx, 1925Little cricketer, height 18.5 cm, ivory, bronze, onyx, 1930.Lipstick, height 9 cm, ivory, onyx, 1925.Princess Elisabeth, height 23 cm, ivory, bronze, onyx, 1936.Girl in an ancient dress, height 15 cm, ivory, bronze, marble, 1920.Page Boy, height 16 cm, ivory, bronze, marble.Girl with necklace, height 13 cm, ivory, bronze, 1925.Tambourine dancer, height 16.8 cm, ivory, bronze, marble, 1920.Girl with a torch, ivory, marble.Figure group Saint George slaying the dragon, ivory, Siena marble.Aphrodite, height 21.5 cm, ivory, bronze.Proserpina, height 24 cm, ivory, bronze, marble, 1900.Diana, ivory, bronze, onyx.Fishing girl, ivory, bronze, onyx.Little Victorian Gentleman, ivory, bronze, marble.Girl with doll, rare Art Deco figure, ivory, bronze, 1930.Don Quixote, ivory, bronze, marble.Aviator girl, height 31 cm, ivory, bronze, marble, 1930.Vanity, height 22.2 cm, ivory, bronze, marble, circa 1925.Girl with a peacock, height 10.2 cm, ivory, bronze, 1925.Dancer with torches, height 41.7 cm, ivory, bronze, onyx, 1925.Seated dancer with a tambourine, height 16.5 cm, ivory, bronze, onyx, 1925.Figure skater, height 35 cm, ivory, bronze, onyx, marble, 1925.Cabaret Girl (table lamp base), ivory, bronze, marble, 1925.Gate, height 25 cm, ivory, bronze, onyx, 1925.Sun Worshiper, ivory, bronze, onyx, 1925 version.