Human Creations in Sculpture

Some pieces give an ordinary object a second life. A pair of silver scissors opens long blades below ornate looped handles, made to hang on a wall, and a round, two-handled basket has its silver braided like wicker. Silver Tlaloc's Pot turns a lidded pot into the face of the Mexica god of rain, with goggle eyes, a curled, fanged mouth and a step-patterned lid.

The Silver Sailboat Sculpture sets two curved, polished sails over a blue-green base shaped like a wave, and a second sailboat carries a single sail with a fine mesh texture. The Flame Sculpture folds polished silver around a bright gold tongue of fire, while its abstract companion is a flame statue reduced to a tall, twisting silver loop on a black block.

Decorative masks have a long history in carnival, above all in Venice. The Gold Sun Mask sets a silver face inside gold, flame-like rays, and its moon counterpart rests in a crescent edged with gold. Harlequin, the stock character of the Italian commedia dell'arte, becomes the Harlequin Mask: silver and gold, a green leaf crest and pointed jester trim.

Other faces are framed by nature: a swan's neck and a gold ring, copper butterfly wings with silver panels, or deep green leaves scattered with small gold flowers. Our Decorative masks page carries the idea further, and the vases by Attanasio Mazzone and Jordi Veytia, soft, swollen shapes in mirror silver or rosy copper, lead on to our flower vases.