Isn’t it odd how one mystery can lead to another, entirely different, one? Such was the case with a puzzling single piece of Cybis that surfaced some months ago. It was among a private collection being liquidated by the family of an enthusiastic collector who also knew the studio owners personally from the 1950s onward.
UPDATE, MAY 2025: The question posed in the title of this post has just been answered: Yes, there were indeed two Cybis nativity sets during the 1950s. See this May 1, 2025 post for full details on the when and the how.
It was apparent from the workmanship that this was a 1950s piece, although the brown hand-painted signature may date from the second half of that decade. My initial impression, based on the clothing style and especially his hairstyle and hat, was that he was meant to represent someone from the Tudor era – think Henry VII or VIII. Knowing that many 1950s Cybis pieces were religious subjects, perhaps this was supposed to be Sir (later Saint) Thomas More?
The main problem with that theory was, of course, his ‘accessories’ because representation of Thomas More simply don’t show him carrying a staff or what appears to be a dreidel on a stick! I wasted a good hour looking at representations of various Renaissance-era saints, and of course nothing matched. Who the heck was this guy??
Then I noticed the mold impression on the back hem of his robe: H©M, which sounded like a good shorthand for Holland Molds. Normally their molds included their full name as Holland © Mold, on the underside but of course Cybis would and did remove that from their Holland-Mold-cast items. However, someone clearly forgot to also eliminate the shorter version from this one.
Name Index of Cybis Sculptures
Visual Index (for human figures/busts only)
About the Cybis Reference Archive
What is Cybis?
Images of Cybis porcelain sculptures are provided for informational and educational purposes only. All photographs are copyrighted by their owner as indicated via watermark and are used here only as reference material. Please see the copyright notice in the footer and sidebar for important information regarding the text that appears within this website.
The Cybis Archive is a continually-updated website that provides the most comprehensive range of information about Cybis within a single source. It is not and never has been part of the Cybis Porcelain studio, which is no longer in business.
THE CYBIS ARCHIVE 