Antique French Porcelain Figurine Edme Samson Chelsea Gold Anchor Mark Man w Grapes

This is a wonderful 19th century porcelain figurine of a seated man holding a basket of grapes with flowers at either side and below him. The piece is marked at the lower back with a gold anchor mark. The gold anchor was the identifying mark used by the Chelsea factory of England. This figurine, however was made by Edm Samson based on an old Chelsea model - Samson used the gold anchor mark from 1885 until about 1920. Samson began making porcelain pieces as replacements for sets and then as display pieces for museums, copying the major European porcelain makers of the 18th century. Examples of Chelsea are made of soft paste porcelain whereas Samson used hard paste.
This figurine is very well modelled, with great attention paid to detail. It is hand painted. It measures 5 in height and weighs 177 grams (6.3 oz). It is in very good condition with the exception of a small chip to the tip of one of the leaves at the back of the figurine and a couple of petals that are short - might be chips or perhaps they are made like that, very minor in any case. Also, there are a few brownish marks to the back of his hat, I think due to aging of the glaze, again, very minor. The damage is really negligible and the figurine displays very well.
This is a beautiful quality figurine..lovely display piece!