Wine Cistern
Medium
Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
Dimensions
53.3 × 26.7 cm (21 × 10 1/2 in.)
Classification
earthenware
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
25853
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Elaborately fashioned platters, vessels, and containers, often with decorative embellishments that indicated their specialized function or their owner’s social status, were displayed on the banquet tables of Renaissance Italy. Cisterns such as this were filled with cold water and used to cool wine bottles at feasts. Skillfully decorated by the Italian ceramic painter Francesco Durantino, this work typifies the Renaissance interest in both Christian imagery and scenes from pagan antiquity. It is ...