Description: This very interesting German beer stein belongs to the family of character steins - steins made in a shape of an object or person. They are also called "figural".

This particular one is made in a shape of a smiling monk wearing red brown robe. His head forms the lid. It is fully hand-painted - the robe, his face, eyes and lips are hand-painted by a decorating artist. The porcelain character monk is relatively rare - there are many varieties of monk character steins in stoneware and pottery, but this stein is made of porcelain.

It has a lithophane picture in the bottom - a picture that you can see against the light. The lithophane presents a picture of a flirting couple.
The thumblift is made in form of a lyre - most likely, it was special ordered as a gift for a musician.

This monk stein is well-known within the beer stein collectors community. It was once suggested that this stein was made by August Saeltzer, but most recent research disproved it. It is now positively determined that these porcelain monks and nuns were made by Eduard Kick in Amberg.

The stein is in excellent condition, with some minimal age-related paint wear. There is no chips, cracks or repairs. It is 7" tall, 0,5L capacity.