During the 19th century and the early 20th many merchant ships were decorated with figureheads portraying the polychromatic figures of women, mostly the daughter or wife of the shipbuilder or captain, or mythological figures, shields, birds or fish. However, the gradual spread of steamships and the introduction of iron as a shipbuilding material resulted in the slow disappearance of these figureheads. La Blanca Aurora was the figurehead of the eponymous corvette, built in Lloret de Mar in 1848, by the ship’s carpenter Agustí Pujol (known as Ferreret). The figurehead represents Maria Parés, daughter of the captain and shipowner Silvestre Parés. The ship had several different owners, and finally, when it was scrapped in Rio de Janeiro, Silvestre Parés recovered de figurehead and brought it back to Catalonia.