Porcelain figurine of Edvard Eriksen's "The Little Mermaid". Female figure in the shape of a mermaid sitting on a rock looking off into the distance. Mark on underside. Signed "Edvard Eriksen" on back. Number 4431. Edvard Eriksen (March 1876 - January 1959) was a Danish-Iceandic sculptor. His most famous work is the bronze statue of The Little Mermaid (Del Lille Havfrue). In 1909, Jacob Christian Jacobsen, founder of Carlsberg brewery, commissioned the work of art as a gift to the City of Copenhagen. It was set up on 23 August 1913 by the shore of the promenade Langelinie in the harbor of the old port district of Nyhavn. Two different women served as models to create the statue. Eriksen used his wife, Eline Eriksen, as the model for the statue's body and actress Ellen Price as the model for the mermaid's head. Size: 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 8 3/4 in. #1780