Georgian qvevri

Description

A potter's yard is crowded with qvevri, the huge egg-shaped clay vessels in which Georgian wine has been made for thousands of years. In the foreground, a row of them lies on its side on wooden blocks, their smooth terracotta bellies glowing a warm orange in low winter sun, their mouths sealed with cloth and plastic. Behind them stand others coated in pale gray-white lime, their pointed bases turned to the sky like a row of giant eggs, and to the right a cluster of smaller vessels decorated with raised grape bunches and vine motifs. Bare trees, a weathered wooden fence and a hillside close the scene, and the long shadows on the grass give it a crisp, quiet, end-of-year feel.