Lidded ewer, Adam van Vianen (I), 1614
On this ewer everything is in motion. Animal and human forms emerge from a viscous mass. It is possible that it represents the primordial soup (prima matera) from which life arose according to alchemists. On the inside are two crawling salamanders or lizards: animals that were also thought to originate from non-living matter. Does the ewer establish a link between the creative power of the artist and that of nature?