Diana the Huntress
I purchased the above art nouveau calling card tray off ebay last week. The tray is sixteen inches long and made of bronze and has a relief image of Diana the Huntress, a Greek Goddess that parceled out good luck to hunters offering homage. I think that’s the way it worked. My pastime visiting estate sales has been put on hold due to Covid 19 so scouring the internet for interesting objects has been filling that void. Hard to find really great deals but this is an exception. I very much like how the artist has recreated Diana six times which may be a way of saying she can be in more than one place at a time.
There are beautiful fountains/sculptures of Diana (Diana la Cazadora) located all over Mexico. She is considered the patroness of the countryside and guardian of childbirth. Interesting fact is that she is often depicted with her bow arched to the sky , shooting at the stars if it were , or turning night into daylight. Great find!
An internet search turns up a lot of mythology surrounding Diana.. I found this interesting: Orion, the giant huntsman, won her heart. However, Diana’s brother, Apollo, grew alarmed that a love affair might develop between his sister and this giant, and Apollo tricked Diana into a shooting contest; the far-off target turned out to be Orion’s head. Grieving the fact she had killed Orion, she turned him into a constellation. She placed his beloved hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor, close by.
Orion is one of the few constellations I recognize. Now I know the story!
– Luth