E. M. Boehm Studios 1986 Hummingbirds Signed and Numbered Porcelain Sculpture. Depicts orchids and branches with hummingbirds fluttering close by in stunning detail. Signed along bottom edge in marker. Label on underside indicating it's a limited issue titled "Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird with Laelia Orchid," which gives the scientific names of them as well and says it was made in England in 1986. Numbered 84 in marker. Small initials C.H. written in marker nearby. 

Condition: Chip on tip of wing. 

Size: 13 x 12 1/2 x 10 3/4 in. 

In 1950 a small porcelain company opened in Trenton, New Jersey called E. M. Boehm Studios. Edward Marshall Boehm (1913-1969) had grown up in Baltimore, Maryland as an orphan without any exposure to art. He left the orphanage at 16 to become a farmhand, and raised enough money to study animal husbandry at the University of Maryland, College Park. From 1934 to 1942 he managed Longacres Farm, specializing in Guernsey cattle, and during the final years of World War II Boehm was in charge of a rehabilitation program for the Air Force at Pawling, New York. It was here he first encountered art as both a form of therapy and a way of life, and when the war ended he apprenticed for six months with sculptor Herbert Haseltine. Boehm studied draftsmanship three times a week and taught himself the ancient process of porcelain making in the evenings after caring for animals at various local farms. In 1944 he married Helen Franzolin (1920-2010), the daughter of Italian immigrants who had studied to become an optician. Inspired by his artistic talent and his love of animals, she helped him raise the funds to create their own company after their move to Trenton. Helen handled the promotional and marketing side of the business, and within a year the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York ordered two statues for their collection. The company expanded exponentially over the next two decades, but sadly the couple had no children and Edward died from a sudden heart attack at the age of 55. By then, the company had multiple sculptors working for them, and Helen kept the company running on her own for over three decades. Known as the “Princess of Porcelain,” she frequently re-released her deceased husband’s designs as limited editions, while producing new pieces mostly focused on nature and wildlife subjects. The Boehms had kept a large collection of exotic birds in extensive aviaries and tropical houses at their Trenton home, which provided ample inspiration for their works, and Edward’s success in breeding many rare species in captivity when others had failed was acknowledged with plaques and awards from the Audubon Society and other organizations around the world both during and after his lifetime. Helen eventually sold the company to private investors in 2003, and passed away in 2010. Today their work is found in numerous museums throughout the United States and the world, as well as in countless private, public, and corporate collections, and a wing of the Vatican Museums in Rome is named in their memory, making them the first people accorded such an honor in the history of the city outside of popes and royal families.

Chip on tip of wing.