Mannheim Blanc de Chine Boar

This is a very rare figure of a wild boar made by the Rheinische Porzellanfabrik Mannheim in about 1907. Only reason I could even figure that out is that I owned a painted version a few years back that was marked. This maker bought a few of the original Frankenthal molds around 1907 after which they started making copies of these right away which were sometimes marked with the crown over CT mark just like the original pieces. In a very rare occasion they also marked them with their own shield mark with a star above it and the letters RPM inside but this piece here is unmarked except for a model number on the side of the base as shown. I think about 20 molds were bought by this maker of which about half were figures and all are very rare! In the books only white pieces are shown including this wild boar piece. The figurine is superbly modeled since it is a Frankenthal piece but they had a firing issue and it has a firing crack behind they left ear - probably why it was never marked. Also a tiny rough spot to the tip of that same ear. Otherwise is is in great condition and displays nicely. The figurine is of a nice size being 4.5 inches tall, 7.5 inches long and 5 inches wide. This is a very rare piece and shows us again how complex the field of porcelain really is. The owner of the Mannheim factory tried to sell the pieces to Nymphenburg but they had no interest except in that they used the CT mark under a crown which was owned by Nymphenburg and thus they told them to grind all these marks out of their pieces or else, which they complied with. The mold were soon after sold to a museum group by 1908 so very few pieces were even made and fewer are marked. A great piece! Please email me for more information or other pictures.