LIMOGES, 16TH CENTURY

In the foreground of this scene the virgin huntress, Diana, reclines while watching her attending nymphs bathing and drying themselves. She is identifiable by the crescent moon over her brow and the bow in her right hand. Curiously, the scene is imbued with an eroticism that is uncommon for the chaste goddess, she is depicted revealing her left breast while greeting her entourage of either naked or scantily clad nymphs. Thus such a subject matter on a small-scale enamel like this example, would have been intended for private use, and would certainly have had a titillating effect in a 16th Century context.

It is not clear whether the abduction scene in the background is directly related to the one in the foreground, since it does not directly correspond to any of Jupiter's abductions, but it may be a reference to the abduction of Callisto, one of Artemis's nymphs.