Manufacture Of Limoges, 18th Century, Diana With The Nymphs

Manufacture of Limoges, 18th century

Diana with the nymphs

Enamel plate, cm 6.5 x 14.5

The precious polychrome enamel plaque belongs to the manufacturing production of the city of Limoges and can be placed in the eighteenth century. The long history of craftsmanship and artistic arts in the city can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with beautiful objects made of vitreous enamel using the technique called champlevé, up to the Art Nouveau and then the twentieth century. The success both in medieval and renaissance courts before and against the nineteenth-century high bourgeoisie, passing through the European nobility of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, shows the extreme appreciation for the shops of the city, able to innovate their own processing techniques and materials. From enamel to precious metals, from hard stones to porcelain, the masters of the Limoges have constantly maintained a high quality level, finding its way into the export of their works to countries all over Europe and to the most disparate clientele. This plate is part of a centuries-old history, made of craftsmen and workshops passed from father to son for generations without ever losing value in the workmanship and following the taste of each era. In this case the subject represents the goddess Diana, recognizable by the crescent on her forehead and by the hunting weapons scattered throughout the composition, together with the nymphs faithful to her as she rests along the banks of a stream. The bucolic landscape is perfectly matched to the figure of the goddess of hunting, immersed in a forest that opens into a wide clearing interrupted by low hills in the background.