Basin Depicting a Cistern, Tower and Domed Building 1775 - 1825

This ceramic basin depicts a cistern, tower, and domed building, made in Puebla, Mexico. At its center, we see a tower beside a domed building, enclosed by stylized botanical motifs. Towers are potent symbols, found in the Tower of Babel, medieval cities, and even modern skyscrapers. They are emblems of power, aspiration, and connection between the earthly and the divine, echoing humanity’s endless ambition. This stylized landscape, encased within concentric circles, evokes the ‘hortus conclusus,’ the enclosed garden, a symbol of purity and paradise seen throughout Renaissance art. The image resonates with a collective desire for order and protection, a subconscious yearning for a lost Eden. Note how the basin's circular form reinforces the notion of cyclical time. The tower, a beacon of human endeavor, stands juxtaposed with the natural, organic forms surrounding it, mirroring the eternal dance between human ambition and nature's enduring presence.