Ducal Palace of Urbino

The Renaissance palace Federico da Montefeltro raised on the hill at Urbino, the one a courtier later called a city in the form of a palace. The twin towers of its west front face away from the streets, out toward the Marche countryside, the way the duke's small study turned its back on the town. Inside, the studiolo is barely larger than a closet, its lower walls inlaid with wood that pretends to be open cupboards and half-shut lattice doors. People climb the hill for Piero della Francesca's Flagellation and stay for the quiet. The light through the loggia does most of the talking.

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