Beatrix Potter - Jeremy Fisher
Offering this original Vienna Bronze (Wiener Bronze) miniature, still handmade in Vienna by the Franz Bergmann - Fuhrmann Company. These miniatures are not marked as there is not enough space for a marking. This item measures about 1 to 1.25 inches in height. These figurines are still manufactured and painted by hand. This is a vintage piece and there is some paint loss commensurate with age. Please see all photos.
Please see my separate listings for:
Mr. Tod Fox
Samuel Whiskers (mouse)
Johnny Town-Mouse in a suit
About the production of these miniatures - the "Lost Wax Method"
The actual material of the object is Brass. These figurines were called "Vienna Bronze" because Brass was not that well known as Bronze. Achieving such a high level of detail on a rather small figurine requires a very complex and time intensive production process: Usually it starts with a rubber mould. Liquid Brass would destory the rubber and for this reason the figurine is in the first step casted out of wax. The wax figurine is used to prepare a negative made of some kind of plaster or clay: In a very special technique one or more wax figurines get placed inside a container. All that is covered with plaster or clay. The mould is dried and fired. This way the clay is getting hard while the wax is melting. A hollow space is created - the negative. This negative gets filled with liquid Brass. When the Brass is cooled down, it gets hard. The plaster around the brass core can be broken off and the figurines made of Brass are the desired result. These figurines will be cut off, their whole surface gets engraved by hammer and punch, and finally the items get marked with the traditional "Jug" mark and painted in a costly and detailed manner.
A short introduction about the Franz Bergmann Company:
Franz Bergmann, the founder of the most popular Viennese bronze foundry was born in Gablonz in 1838. As a young man he moved to Vienna where he studied the bronze making craft. In 1860 he received a diploma of master craftsman.
At the first Parisian world exhibition he was exposed to French bronzes. His enthusiasm was very big and he immediately founded his own bronze atelier in Vienna, source of prosperity and honor.
His oldest son, the bronze maker and chaser Franz Xaver Bergmann (1861-1936) eventually took over his father's trade and founded a foundry of his own. The naturalistically painted bronzes were produced in accordance with his ideas. At the famous second Parisian world exhibition in 1900 he presented a gigantic bronze, for which he got honored with a medal.
At that time the “Jug-trademark” of the Bergmann-company got world-famous. Two sculptors who have worked exclusively for Bergmann designed a variety of models.
The turbulent time of the world economic crisis and the Second World War had a serious consequence for the Viennese bronze. Particularly the big original models were either compulsory or voluntary melted. Valuable designs were lost forever. Furthermore the Franz Bergmann foundry was shut down for several years.
At a later date the business was restarted by Franz Xaver Bergmann’s son Robert Bergmann who sold it to the company Karl Fuhrmann & Co in 1960. Members of the family Fuhrmann worked for the trading company Reibestein since the beginning of the twentieth century. Reibestein was a large, worldwide dealer of the Viennese bronzes.
To this day, Fuhrmann workshop continues the tradition of the "original Viennese bronzes." A wide range of models is the basis for the product range. It contains all species of animals in different sizes, positions and some of them in humoristic depiction. Furthermore nudes, oriental, and erotic figures are being produced. Until today these figures are manufactured in a traditional way and in highest quality.
A discount on postage is offered for the purchase of more than one listing.