Talavera de la Reina pottery

The potter’s workshops at Talavera de la Reina and Puente del Arzobispo (Toledo) were the production centre of the most commercially successful Spanish earthenware during the 16th and 17th centuries, which was not only distributed across Spain, but also exported to Europe and America. Their pottery and tiling emerged around 1550 due to the introduction of blue or polychrome decorations inspired by Chinese porcelain and Italian majolica. The sets of Talavera pottery comprises some plates, bowls and jars decorated with scenes related to the customs or tastes of the Hispanic society who used this pottery as practical domestic objects or ornaments. This plate from the ‘polychrome’ series is unique amongst the Talavera pottery as it is decorated with a scene that shows a common woman ready to spear a bad-tempered bull that is about to charge at the hindquarters the horse she is riding, in the style of a bullfighter on horseback, which she executes with the skill that in those times would have been exclusively attributed to men.