Ducal Palace of Mantua

A complex more than a single palace: five hundred rooms, twelve courtyards, a chapel, and the gardens of four centuries of Gonzaga rule, all behind one door on Piazza Sordello. Inside the Castello di San Giorgio at the far end is the room Andrea Mantegna spent nine years painting, the Camera degli Sposi, with the oculus that pretends the ceiling is open to the sky. Locals call the whole thing the reggia. The three small lakes formed by the Mincio sit behind the walls, holding the fog through most mornings in winter.

Slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, in our family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee.