Artist: Kurt Schmid-Ehmen
Size: 26cm (Eagle Height), 35cm (Total Height)
Professor Kurt Schmid-Ehmen created this small sculpture in 1937. Designed in the shape of the original seven-meter-tall eagle sculpture at the Luitpold Arena on the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg, this heavy silver-plated hollow-cast bronze eagle is from the estate of Reich Minister Hanns Kerrl (head of the Zweckverband Reichsparteitag Nürnberg) and was commissioned by the city of Nuremberg for his work as the chairman of the organization responsible for party buildings and editing the Nuremberg rally yearbooks. The eagle is monogrammed with the letters “K.S.E” and mounted on a large slab of ebony and correctly foundry marked from Munich. The ebony base has the attached inscription “Gewidmet von der Belegschaft” (Bestowed by the staff). This is the only original surviving pre-war Kurt Schmid-Ehmen Nuremberg style eagle that has so far been found. Many of the post war’ estate cast’ examples are incorrectly identified as period originals but can be easily discounted as such due to the lack of fine detailing to the oak leaves on the wreath and the absence of the front chest feathering as seen on this example.
The plaster model for this eagle is shown below. Dimensions are 27cm x 26cm x 6cm:
