Elephants Plaster Mid Century Relief Board Etha Richter (German)?

Hi All

Does anybody know if this plaster on wood relief board featuring elephants could be by Etha Richter, a german sculpturer? Or any other suggestions? Or how I might find out more? It is quite large, 30"x13" - I think stained plaster on wood (which is painted black).

Many thanks for any info
Paul

 

See white anywhere?
I'd think it would be gesso. It could be white too though.

 

This looks molded rather than a one of a kind work to me. Wonder if it might be a product of the Richter Artcraft Co. Doesn't quite fit exactly with what they did but who knows?

 

I meant it to be molded as well because it looks pretty thick and there's another material I just can't bring to mind.
Could also be wax but it seems that should be easily discovered.

 

I think its what you'd call beige and brown - its actually a bit darker than what the photo's make out, cant see any white.

Its chipped here and there and the internal substance is a little powdery in nature and has a sort of reddish/pinkish hue, which the photo's don't show.

I have a side view photo I'll upload in a bit, it isn't the best can you give a clue how its 'layered'. Weight is 3Kg I don't think the wood is solid, its painted black all round.

 

PS I've added the back and side view photo

 

I don't think it's carved.

 

It sounds like it might be Syroco 'wood', which is a composite of wood pulp and binder. Syroco (Syracuse Ornamental Co.) and a couple other companies made plaques, wall clocks, sconces and lots of other things in mid-century.

 

In the colors he states?

 

I'm no expert but I think it might be one of kind and still think its stained plaster - pretty sure it isn't acrylic in nature as that wouldn't be 'powerdery' inside? The signature is quite like etha richter, and the subject matter fits. Maybe I need better photos. Thanks for all the assistance so far anyway, gives me plenty to think about.

 

In real life you can see a clear differential between where the 'plaster' meets the 'board'.

 

I've seen & had Syroco ranging inside from tan to pinkish-tan to light brown, depending on what color the stain is, age and the pulp color, so sure, I think it could be. I looked up Syroco elephant/s, and found nothing so far, but if I can remember the name of the other companies, maybe there's something there.

 

A few more hopefully better photos...

 

I haven't been able to find any examples of Etha Richter's signature that did not require a subscription to the site. One thing I noticed is that the descriptions of items sometimes say that her signature includes both her first and last name. The subject matter is right, though! And I also didn't find any other plaques. So it's hard to tell.

 

From within the dusty files encased on my shoulders just came Gutta-percha.
That is the other medium I was trying to think of at first.

 

Thanks Figtree and King. I'll look at the medium you mention. Yes she often signed both names on porcelain at least - which are quite common. Its her signature from a porcelain piece I was comparing. See below:

 

and here's the one on this piece:

 

That signature is very similar so you could be right.

 

Agreed... the signatures are similar.

 

I put it through valuemystuff and only got a generic response really - they weren't able to tell materials etc from photo's. They said I'd need further research to attribute it to Etha Richter but they didn't rule it out. They said it was a little 'unrefined' in technique though.

Bearing in mind I'm in east midlands in the UK, is there anywhere you'd recommend I could take it so someone could see it in real life and offer an opinion? Obviously they'd be a large difference in value if it could be attributed to Etha Richter. At the moment they're saying £100-£150 as a decorative piece.