Link nur auf Unterseiten benutzbar

Still holding a spear, Diana the huntress is getting ready to bathe. There she sits under a canopy, with a cloth loosely draped across her body. Silvery water is bubbling out of the mouths of dolphins into the bowl. On two trays at its edges we see everything an eighteenth century lady needed to bathe: a powder bowl, various flasks, combs, brushes and soap. A black hunting dog guards the goddess’s clothing and weapons.

At first sight, it seems an idyllic scene. On closer inspection, it tells a dramatic story. The moon-shaped bowl may seem to float with the divine huntress; in reality, it is resting on three points – the golden antlers of a stag. And that stag is none other than the hunter Actaeon.

In his Metamorphoses, the Roman poet Ovid describes how Actaeon caught sight of the shy huntress while she was bathing. To punish him, she turned him into a stag. His own hounds didn’t recognise him, and they tore him to pieces. Here we see Actaeon’s severed head, lying on a mossy forest floor. The moral of the story is spelt out along the edge at the foot of the goblet: Discretion sert, effronterie perd – Tact brings gain, tactlessness shame.

This decorative bowl depicting Diana bathing is one of Johann Melchior Dinglinger’s most unusual and outstanding works. He even posed with it when he had his portrait painted – the painting is now in St. Petersburg. The ivory figures were carved by Balthasar Permoser. It was the first time the jeweller Dinglinger collaborated with the sculptor Permoser.