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

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