On-line gallery
- Reference number
- O02770
- Author
- Real Fábrica de Porcelanas del Buen Retiro
- Title
- The Contest of Diana's Nymphs
- Chronology
- Ca. 1790
- Technique
- Bizcocho
- Material
- Pasta cerámica
- Measures
- 16 cm x 31 cm
- School
- Española
- Theme
- Mitología
- On display
- Yes
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
A group of Nymphs play at hunting a bird with their bows. Among them is the goddess, Diana, with a half-moon over her head. She is depicted embracing one of her hunting dogs.
This work is a ceramic plaque made in the Buen Retiro factory in imitation of the British manufacturer, Wedgwood. The technique is based on using a soft slip colored with cobalt to give it blue tones, with various molded bisquit reliefs over it, finished with a brush.
This was probably one of the pieces that adorned the Casita del Príncipe at El Escorial, where other pieces from the same series are still kept. These pieces had a variety of themes: flowers, mythology, putti, landscapes and ruins, always treated as decorative ornamentation in keeping with eighteenth-century tastes.
Room 100













