Cybis had a continuous history of child head/portrait busts through most of the studio's existence. All but three were attached to a wood base, and all were between 9” and 11” high overall. Most were issued as companion sculptures although each was sold separately. Only three were limited editions; the others were open (non-limited). Let’s [...]
‘Into the woods’ is probably not the most accurate title for a post describing the wide-ranging array of Cybis wildlife sculptures profiled below, but I think that with more than 50% of them qualifying as per habitat I can probably get away with it. Beginning with the smallest woodland denizen, Deer Mouse ‘In Clover’ is [...]
Watching the acrobatic antics of a pair of squirrels reminded me that Cybis created four of them in porcelain. The first and best known of them, Squirrel, ‘Mr. Fluffy Tail’ appeared in 1965 as an open edition and was produced until his retirement in 1971. He stands 7.5” high and has the typical squirrel attitude [...]
Here are five Cybis designs in honor of the holiday and moms everywhere. America's First Born (Virginia Dare) is 8" high overall. On August 18, 1587, Virginia Dare became the first baby born on American soil to British parents. She was born on Roanoke Island which was part of the Virginia Colony for which she [...]
In 1987 the Ryder Cup was held at the Muirfield Village course, owned by Jack Nicklaus, and in conjunction with that event Cybis produced a special limited edition porcelain commemorative. Approximately 20 of them were made: one for each Team USA player, plus additional sculptures for the PGA and World Golf Hall of Fame. It [...]
Honestly, who doesn’t like owls? (well…probably rodents) Owls have been a hugely popular collecting genre for ages, and Cybis depicted them several times in porcelain. The Cybis owl that shows up in countless collections and online sales is their iconic Baby Owl which was introduced in 1957. This adorable owlet is the longest-running sculpture that [...]
The Limnettes were a unique product of the Cybis studio during the first half of the 1970s. They are small porcelain plaques that were designed by freelance artist George Ivers in 1971. He was actually working for Lenox at the time but later joined Cybis as their Art Director in 1973 and remained in that [...]
From a collector’s point of view, the issue size of a limited-edition item is of major importance; it’s therefore disconcerting if the artist or manufacturer plays fast and loose with that particular attribute. The concept of marketing retail items as “limited editions” didn’t become widespread until the 1960s. The Boehm Porcelain studio was one of [...]
Although I’ve never been a fan of Cybis’ Hall of Fame series of replicated “legacy” sculptures, I’ve always been curious about how they managed to produce identical but downscaled versions of pieces whose original molds were supposedly destroyed decades ago. So, I decided to learn how the upsize/downsize process actually works. In my quest to [...]
It is a shame that, throughout the history of art porcelain, it was so rare for public credit to be given to the artists and artisans who actually produced these beautiful objects. Even collectors who focused on the work of one particular studio almost never knew who was actually responsible for the existence of the [...]
THE CYBIS ARCHIVE 