Purple Tramontana

“Tramontana porpora” is the result of an artisanal process: Made entirely by hand with red clay and ceramic glazes, “Tramontana porpora” is a unique piece. The glossy finish of the glaze creates a pleasing contrast to the red clay parts left natural. Every detail of this sculpture was taken care of with extreme precision, shaping and finishing the face and hair during the drying phase, when the clay is said to be at “leather hardness.” After the first firing at a temperature of about 1,000 degrees Celsius, several layers of glaze were applied by brush to give “Tramontana porpora” its characteristic hue. Subsequently, the sculpture was fired a second time to vitrify the glaze and make it shiny and durable; it is only with this second firing that the colors show their hue, only after the second firing in fact can the iridescent reflections in the brown of the hair be grasped, which give movement and lightness to the final effect.

“Purple Tramontana” conveys an atmosphere of freedom and pleasure, evoking the wind in your hair. Its coloring with warm tones gives a warm effect to the whole, making it a unique work. Like the other “wind roses,” “Purple Tramontana” tells of the pleasure of the wind in the hair and the feeling of freedom it invokes, because as the poet Alda Merini writes, “No one combs my hair as well as the wind.”