Description
Products of Byzantine culture, patere are small, circular reliefs that dot the sides of buildings throughout Venice and are a sub-set of material culture. Their shape originates from the way they were made, often sculpted from slices of old marble columns that had been replaced in past renovations of a building. Patere constitute the oldest type of Venetian public art, with flat patere being the oldest of the category. Formelle, a related type of public art, are also considered part of the patere collection because they share many of the same graphical motifs. Formelle are often larger than patere, and are characterized by a rectangular shape capped with a rounded arch, rather than being circular.
