A rare Schwarzburger Werkstätten figure of a hunter circa 1911

modelled by Professor Paul Scheurich, standing with a rifle slung over his right shoulder, wearing 18th century costume: a black tricorn hat, brown jacket with turquoise cuffs, a turquoise-edged waistcoat decorated with flowers and yellow breeches and shoes, the stepped serpentine-fronted base with tree-stump shaded in green

Max Adolf Pfeiffer founded the Schwarzburger Werkstätten für Porzellankunst in 1909 with the aim of reviving porcelain as an art form. To this end, he approached renowned sculptors such as August Gaul and his students Max Esser and Gerhard Marcks, as well as Ernst Barlach, among others, to produce models for the factory. He also recognised the talent of Paul Scheurich, whom he commissioned to produce models for the manufactory, and subsequently of course at Meissen, where he became commercial director in 1913.

In 1925 Pfeiffer wrote of Scheurich: I met [him] in 1909. He had then carved some very beautiful small-scale wood sculptures which seemed to me quite remarkable and appropriate for reproduction in porcelain. I therefore asked him to work in porcelain, for the Schwarzburger Werkstätten. The first pieces which he then executed for the manufactory were the hunter and huntress (quoted by C. Marusch-Krohn, Meissener Porzellan 1918-1933 Die Pfeifferzeit, p.9f., and ill.4 for a similar figure together with the companion figure of the huntress). Scheurich had had the huntress executed in porcelain at the Berlin manufactory at his own expense, but it was not taken up by the manufactory and so Pfeiffer was able to secure him for the Schwarzburger Werkstätten (see J. Rafael, Paul Scheurich 1883-1945. Porzellane für die Meissener Manufaktur., Meissener Manuskripte Sonderband VIII, p.10f.).