Ramses on a chariot and Moeses

Country: Spain

Manufactory: NAO (by Lladro)

Date of establishment: 1980s

Height (cm): 42

Limited Series

Porcelain Story

Often telling in my daily “porcelain” stories about the works of the famous Spanish manufactory Lladro, I completely undeservedly did not pay due attention to NAO porcelain. True, I did this not because there are not so many items with this hallmark in our collection. But rather because NAO was conceived and created by the Lladro brothers as a division that could produce figures for mass demand. Products bearing the NAO brand were simpler in execution than those produced in the main division of the manufactory, which employs the best Spanish sculptors. And there were fewer fine details in these products, and the compositions looked simpler, and the size, as a rule, is small, and much less manual work was required for their production. All this was reflected in the price of the works, making them more accessible to average-income collectors.

Although, I should note that in Great Britain, which at first became the main market for porcelain products of the Spanish brand NAO, the prices for these products were and still remain quite high. Especially for limited editions, the existence of which many collectors do not even know. There were only a few of them. And among them, a series called The Prince of Egypt was especially appreciated. There were only three works in this series. I managed to find two of them 20 years ago in one of the small English towns. They were dedicated to the prophet Moeses, who led the Jews out of Egypt through the parting waters of the Dead Sea, and to Ramses, who pursued the fugitives on a war chariot at the head of his troops.

I decided to show you these works today, that's why. Recently, an unusual open-air performance was staged in the Valley of the Pharaohs in Luxor, Egypt. Such performances have taken place in this place before. True, it was already quite a long time ago. The previous performance took place almost 25 years ago. But after the terrorist attack that took place in Luxor shortly after and claimed the lives of about 60 foreign tourists, the Egyptian government decided not to hold anything like that there for a long time. And now, in the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, a grandiose action took place again - the production of the opera "Aida" by Giuseppe Verdi. It is noteworthy that this event was held with the participation of 150 musicians from Ukraine, led by conductor Oksana Lyniv, a Ukrainian who has been working with major European orchestras for many years. They say everything went great.

I have been to Luxor more than once, one of the most iconic places in Egypt, where many of the rulers of the country are buried, starting from the time of the Middle Kingdom, when Thebes (Luxor) was the capital of Egypt. There, in the Valley of the Pharaohs, are the two most famous tombs - Nefertiti and Tutankhamun. Thousands of travelers from all over the world come there every year to go through long underground corridors and see with their own eyes the colorful wall paintings that tell about the life of the pharaohs. And the majestic palaces and colonnades, carved right in the mountains, cause real delight. And now imagine that in all this grandeur (in the open air!) bright opera scenery appears and in the ringing silence of the night above the ancient buildings the eternal music of the great Verdi sounds ... Probably, it looks like some kind of miracle. It's a pity that I didn't get to see this miracle.