Bowl with a wren

Nº inv.: CE1/03117

This flat-bottomed, shallow ceramic bowl has sloping sides up to the rim. It has a tin glaze, and is decorated in shiny gold. It has a coppery tone due to the lack of silver in the pigment formula. In the centre, a large wren, with carnations as wings, is depicted with a wavy silhouette. The background consists of plants, dots, flowers and a border of semicircles. The carnation motif in the background joins the central theme of the wren and, on occasion, with four-footed animals and small fish.

From the 17th century, lustreware became popular and its technical and artistic quality declined. It came to be used mostly by the middle and working classes, although it maintained a small market amongst the nobility.

This piece is from the early to mid-18th century.

On display in the Sala del alfarje [cerámica de los siglos XVI-XVIII] (16th-18th Century Pottery Room), second floor.