Bull (spotty)

Country: Spain

Manufactory: Lladro

Date of establishment: 1970

Sculptor: Salvador Furió

Size (cm): 17*32

Porcelain Story

Two figurines are presented for your judgment at once. Moreover, both are beautiful, both unique. The bull is unique in its collection rarity, very large size and age. And the figurine of a Matador, produced by Spanish craftsmen in a very small edition for the official 60th anniversary of my beloved Lladro manufactory, was even presented earlier in the ''Figure of the Day'' heading. And yet I decided to show them together. I will say right away that I have never seen such a single composition - a fight between a matador and a bull - in the works of Lladro. But in my life I met, and more than once. Managed to capture another time when the fights were held in a variety of special arenas throughout Spain. And this, frankly, is not so much exciting as a ruthless theatrical action, we watched with my wife several times.

For the first time it was in Mallorca, where we witnessed an act of generosity shown by the chairman of this event, who decided, at the request of sophisticated spectators waving white handkerchiefs, to pardon the courageous and noble bull. True, there was also a very unpleasant moment when another bull put to flight a not very brave and skillful matador. Moreover, having caught up with the unfortunate guy, the bull managed to rip open the back of the opponent’s purple-shiny robe with a filed horn and inflict a not deep, but insulting wound on his bare bottom...

Already leaving the arena of this ruthless killing of powerful and not always understanding what was happening, animals, we managed to notice the place where the dead bloody bulls were dragged out. We were told that after immediate cutting, their meat would be sent to the best restaurants in the city...

I recalled a rude anecdote on this topic. When in such a restaurant a visitor who ordered a dish with, excuse me, bull's eggs, asked the waiter why he was served them so small, the waiter replied in confusion: you know, the matador does not always win...

As far as I know, now in many regions of Spain, bullfighting is prohibited. Many fans of such performances sincerely regret this, because the traditional caste profession of a matador, which for centuries, not only in Spain, was considered both very prestigious and very profitable, is becoming a thing of the past. The best matadors in the streets and in society were hailed as stars of the first magnitude, members of the royal families considered it an honor to maintain close friendly relations with them. Now it's all in the past. In the current one, the beauty and grace of the professionally verified movements of the matador, and the stubborn slowness of the huge animals that opposed them, are recreated in porcelain. In our collection, these works, created in completely different techniques and with a difference of 40 years, stood side by side for a long time - as a reminder of what we managed to see and experience with our own eyes.