Head of Poliphemus with a narwhal's tooth

In the year 2000 Franco Maria Ricci commissioned the French artist Jacques Canonici to sculpt a stand in order to hold a narwhal tusk bought on the antiques market. This clever artefact in terracotta has ben inspired by the myth of Ulysses: it represents the cyclops Polyphemus' head, with tiny seamen a its base. The cyclops' mouth is wide open in the act of a realistic scream of pain, since Ulysses and his comrades have, paraphrasing the original myth, stuck the narwhal tusk stuck into his only eye, blinding him.