PRIMATES BRAZZA LEAD GRAY CERAMIC WITH METAL DETAILS VASE
The PRIMATES BRAZZA LEAD GRAY CERAMIC WITH METAL DETAILS VASE by Elena Salmistraro is the most tonally complex and visually aristocratic edition of the Primates series — a mandrill portrait rendered in a palette that feels simultaneously ancient and deeply contemporary.
The oval body is finished in deep lead gray-navy — a dark, lustrous glaze that reads almost like polished stone, absorbing surrounding light rather than reflecting it. This darkened ground makes every surface detail on the face read with heightened relief and chromatic contrast.
At the crown, a periwinkle blue dotted visor band curves across the upper head, its raised-dot texture lending a tactile architectural quality. Beneath it, a dramatically sculpted copper-bronze fan brow sweeps across the brow line — its surface etched with fine radiating gold lines that catch light like the spines of a sunflower — the single most theatrical element of the composition. Flanking a smooth white muzzle and nose, diamond-shaped cheek pads in warm bronze-copper tones carry the same raised-dot texture, subdued and earthy against the dark body. The eyes are framed in metallic bronze with cool gray irises and white pupils — watchful and composed.
Below the muzzle, the chin beard is rendered in sculpted matt white ceramic — deeply folded and draped, its pale tone a deliberate counterpoint to the darkness of the body and the warmth of the metallic details.
The result is the most meditative of the three Brazza face sculpture editions — a piece that rewards unhurried attention.
Specifications
- Material: Fine glazed ceramics
- Designer: Elena Salmistraro
- Collection: Primates
- Body finish: Glossy lead gray (deep navy) ceramic
- Detail glazes: Bronze-copper (fan brow, cheek pads), periwinkle blue (crown band), metallic bronze (eye surround), matt white (chin beard)
- Surface textures: Raised dot pattern on cheeks and crown; fine radiating lines on brow fan; sculpted draped beard
Dimensions
- Width: 7.9 in
- Depth: 10.0 in
- Height: 15.7 in

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