Teal Seal Sculpture

This elegant sculpture of a seal is entirely handmade of white clay, notable for its high concentration of kaolin. After an initial hand modeling, artist Daniele Nannini waits for the object to partially dry before hollowing out and refining the piece to a 1 cm-thickness. The final step involves a firing in the kiln which gives the piece the distinctive hard quality of ceramic. The surface is then painted with teal-colored tempera and treated with colored wax to give it a striking glossy finish.