The liquidation of the Cybis studio’s backstock in 2019 brought to light a collection of female (lady head) busts made during the 1940s. These fell into two general categories: (a) papka and/or mixed media prototypes or one of a kind designs, and (b) busts that were cast from a basic head/neck mold and then variously [...]
When researching Cybis porcelain it is rarely possible to point to two different sculptures and definitively state “This became that” in its entirety (body-snatching doesn’t really qualify, although numerous instances of that practice have been found.) This is especially true when it comes to the earliest (1940s) pieces, many of which were either one of [...]
The recent liquidation of the Cybis Studio’s holdings has turned up quite a few surprises but perhaps none so much as a small group of stylized pieces that simply don’t fall into any category previously known. For lack of any better appellation, I’m going to call them the Helmet Heads. This wasn’t actually the first [...]
Among the pieces that George Ivers created or painted while he was the Art Director of the Cybis studio are four tales from the Old Testament. Unlike the 1971-72 Limnettes – which were retail pieces – these do not appear in any of the Cybis general retail price lists that I have found. However, I’m [...]
The recent liquidation of the Cybis studio’s holdings has resulted in some important updates on the ‘identification’ front: One wholly unexpected, one positively perplexing, and another somewhat misleading. A Cybis Gummed Sticker It was common practice for the Cordey items to have a gummed sticker affixed before they went out the studio door; enough lamps [...]
The Cybis studio produced a surprising number of vases in various shapes and sizes, despite not being ‘known’ for that genre of porcelain wares. While the early 1940s examples were, shall we say, 'artistic', the later examples were very mainstream in design. 1940s Vases Some of the early-1940s vases reflect the freeform style of the [...]
The modern-day (1960 forward) Cybis Studio produced several hundred human studies – bust, torso, or full figure – for retail sale. Approximately 25% of those figures were intended to represent specific personages from either literature or history. Only two known Cybis sculptures were modeled after a currently-living person (Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine, and [...]
The design number that was assigned to each Cybis porcelain is one of those tiny nuggets of information that once served a useful purpose but is now of value only to research geeks like myself (and possibly others.) Originally, it indicated the genre to which the sculpture belonged and also no doubt simplified the bookkeeping [...]
One of the most enjoyable things about creating the Cybis Archive has been hearing from readers who have questions about Cybis or information to share. This is particularly true in regard to the 1940s and 1950s pieces, many of which were either never documented by Cybis or their original information has been lost. An especially [...]
Any history of Cybis porcelain would be incomplete without delving, at least somewhat, into its predecessor – the Cordey China Company. Cordey production can be divided into two time periods: Cybis-owned and post-Cybis. The Cybis Era Cordey China was incorporated on October 6, 1942 as a Pennsylvania manufacturing company located at 226 West Columbia Avenue [...]
THE CYBIS ARCHIVE 