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Workshop of Guido Durantino
(Italian, died about 1576), Urbino, Italy
Basin, 1550 - 1560, maiolica (tin glazed earthenware).
Gift of Miss Susan Barr Satterwhite 1941.51

Italian Renaissance maiolica pottery is covered in an opaque white tin glaze and painted designs. The brightly colored paintings often told the historical, mythological and biblical stories. This massive basin provided its skilled decorator with a large ground on which to depict scenes from the Second Punic War. This war pitted Hannibal and the Carthaginians against the Romans between 218 and 201 B.C. Although this piece shows few signs of use, a basin of this type may have been filled with cold water and used to chill drinking glasses.