Antique Porcelain Statue – Child On A Tiger – Dressel, Kister & Co. (passau)

Porcelain statuette from the German manufacturer Dressel, Kister & Cie in Passau (Bavaria). This figurative work depicts a child (a bacchante) riding a tiger in motion. The scene is beautifully adorned with an elegant, hand-painted garland of flowers that passes through the tiger’s mouth.

The piece rests on a white, rectangular pedestal in a classical style, enhanced with hand-painted gilded decorations.

The piece bears its authentic original mark beneath the base, in blue underglaze, depicting a bishop’s crozier, a symbol associated with Passau.

Dressel, Kister & Cie, in business since 1853, was world-renowned for the quality of its character dolls and porcelain figurines. Around 1900, the company revived the old 18th-century molds from the famous Höchst porcelain manufactory, giving rise to this fabulous, mythological style.

This particular model, depicting an exotic predatory animal, dates from the early 20th century and is significantly rarer than the standard pastoral figures of that period.