Paul Scheurich presented 3 plaster models intended for production in porcelain at the Autumn 1917 exhibition of the Berlin Secession, including the figures of Daphne. Despite the great success of Scheurich’s Ballet Russes figures at Meissen from 1914, in the absence of its Commercial Director, Max Adolf Pfeiffer, Meissen rejected Scheurich’s offer of these new figures. They were returned to the artist with the remark that “the manufactory has enough naked figures.”
He consequently offered them to Theodor Schmuz-Baudiss, the Artistic Director of the KPM Berlin manufactory, who purchased the figure of a reclining lady (later known as Ruhende) in December 1917 and the figures of Daphne and Apollo in January 1918, each for RM 1,500. The first figures were produced in porcelain in February 1918: they were an immediate success for the Berlin manufactory and have remained in production ever since.