PRIMATES BRAZZA NAVY VASE BY ELENA SALMISTRARO

There is a gaze in this piece. Not suggested, not implied — a gaze. The PRIMATES BRAZZA NAVY VASE BY ELENA SALMISTRARO confronts the viewer directly with the face of Brazza’s monkey, one of the most visually striking primates of the African forest, rendered in fine ceramic with a level of sculptural and chromatic detail that places this object firmly in the territory of fine art. The vase sculpture is the animal. The monkey sculpture is the vase. And the face that occupies its entire front surface — calm, knowing, faintly amused — has precisely the quality that Salmistraro identified as the animating idea behind the entire Primates collection: the unsettling, fascinating, irresistible power of resemblance.

PRIMATES BRAZZA NAVY VASE BY ELENA SALMISTRARO is distinguished in nature by its extraordinarily expressive face — the white beard, the contrasting eye mask, the pale nose, the vivid brow crest. Salmistraro translates each of these features into ceramic with extraordinary fidelity and invention simultaneously. The body of the vase is gloss navy blue — deep, rich, midnight-toned — a ground that gives every detail applied to it maximum presence. Rising from this dark field, the face is built in three-dimensional relief: the white nose bridge and chin beard emerge from the surface with genuine sculptural depth, the white draped chin falling in soft folds like cloth. The cheek patches — in warm copper and gold precious metal enamel, their surface scored with fine raised dot textures — catch the light in a way that recalls the actual texture of a monkey’s fur without mimicking it literally. Above the grey-white eyes, gold radiating lines sweep upward like sun rays or dramatic brows, giving the expression its particular quality of serene authority.

At the crown, the periwinkle blue crest — textured with rows of raised dots, slightly wider than the head — is rendered in gloss blue ceramic that contrasts the entire tonal palette below: a vibrant, joyful accent that lifts the piece from drama into something warmer and more playful. It is the detail that makes the PRIMATES BRAZZA NAVY VASE BY ELENA SALMISTRARO immediately recognizable both in nature and in this ceramic interpretation — and it is the detail that makes the vase work as an object of genuine delight as much as an object of admiration.

At Ø26 × H.40 cm, the PRIMATES BRAZZA NAVY VASE BY ELENA SALMISTRARO has the scale of a significant sculptural centerpiece — substantial enough to hold a console or sideboard entirely on its own, precise enough in its detail to reward close examination from every angle. It can receive flowers — a single stem placed through the opening in the crown becomes something extraordinary in the context of this face — or stand entirely empty as the sculptural personality it already is.

Specifications

• Material: Ceramic — colored enamels and precious metals
• Colors: Gloss navy blue body; periwinkle blue dotted crest; gold/copper precious metal cheek panels; white nose, eyes, and chin beard; gold lip detail; gold radiating brow lines
• Surface Detail: Three-dimensional sculptural relief face; raised dot textures on cheeks and crest; fine gold radiating lines above eyes
• Dimensions: Ø26 × H.40 cm (Ø10.2″ × H.15.7″)
• Use: Indoor — console, sideboard, mantelpiece, shelf, dining table