Murano Glass

Vintage opaline from Florence. This is a rare color and size, a must have for any collector. Looks simply stunning. The piece is in excellent condition and a real beauty!  ...

“Poliedri” chandelier designed by Carlo Scarpa and produced by the Italian manufacturer Venini in, 1958. Made of opaline Murano glass. Born in Venice on June 2nd, 1906, Carlo Scarpa began working at a very early age. Only a year after he had first qualified as an architect in 1926, he began working for the Murano glassmakers Cappellin & Co. in a consultative capacity; from 1927, he began to experiment with the Murano glass, and this research not only gave him excellent results here but would also inform his progress for many years to come. Between 1935 and 1937, as he entered his thirties, Carlo Scarpa accepted his first important commission, the renovation of Venice’s Cà Foscari. He adapted the spaces of this stately University building which stands on the banks of the Grand Canal, creating rooms for the Dean’s offices and a new hall for academic ceremonies; Mario Sironi and Mario De Luigi were charged with doing the restoration work on the frescos. After 1945, Carlo Scarpa found himself constantly busy with new commissions, including various furnishings and designs for the renovation of Venice’s Hotel Bauer and designing a tall building in Padua and a residential area in Feltre, which are all worth mention. One of his key works, despite its relatively modest diminished proportions, was the first of many works which were to follow in the nineteen fifties: the [bookshop known as the] Padiglione del Libro, which stands in Venice’s Giardini di Castello and shows clearly Scarpa’s passion for the works of Frank Lloyd Wright. In the years which were to follow, after he had met the American architect, Scarpa repeated similar experiments on other occasions, as can be seen, in particular, in the sketches he drew up in 1953 for villa Zoppas in Conegliano, which show some of his most promising work. However, this work unfortunately never came to fruition. Carlo Scarpa later created three museum layouts to prove pivotal in terms of how twentieth-century museums were to be set up from then on. Between 1955 and 1957, he completed extension work on Treviso’s Gipsoteca Canoviana [the museum that houses Canova’s sculptures] in Possagno, taking a similar experimental approach to the one he used for the Venezuelan Pavilion at [Venice’s] Giardini di Castello which he was building at the same time (1954-56). In Possagno Carlo Scarpa was to create one of his greatest ever works, which inevitably bears comparison with two other museum layouts that he was working on over the same period, those of the Galleria Nazionale di Sicilia, housed in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo (1953-55) and at the Castelvecchio in Verona (1957- 1974), all of which were highly acclaimed, adding to his growing fame. Two other buildings, which are beautifully arranged in spatial terms, can be added to this long list of key works that were started and, in some cases, even completed during the nineteen fifties. After winning the Olivetti award for architecture in 1956, Scarpa began work in Venice’s Piazza San Marco on an area destined to house products made by the Industrial manufacturers Ivrea. Over the same period (1959-1963), he also worked on renovation and restoration of the gardens and ground floor of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, which many consider being one of his greatest works. While he busied himself working on-site at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Carlo Scarpa also began work building a villa in Udine for the Veritti family. To shed some light on the extent to which his work evolved over the years, it may perhaps be useful to compare this work with that of his very last building, villa Ottolenghi Bardolino, which was near to completion at the time of his sudden death in 1978. Upon completion of villa Veritti over the next ten years, without ever letting up on his work on renovation and layouts, Scarpa accepted some highly challenging commissions which were to make the most of his formal skills, working on the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa as well as another theatre in Vicenza. Towards the end of this decade, in 1969, Rina Brion commissioned Carlo Scarpa to build the Brion Mausoleum in San Vito d’Altivole (Treviso), a piece he continued to work on right up until the moment of his death. Nevertheless, even though he was totally absorbed by work on this mausoleum, there are plenty of other episodes which can offer some insight into the final years of his career. As work on the San Vito d’Altivole Mausoleum began to lessen from 1973, Carlo Scarpa began work building the new headquarters for the Banca Popolare di Verona. He drew up plans that were surprisingly different from the work he was carrying out at the same time on the villa Ottolenghi. However, the plans Carlo Scarpa drew up, at different times, for a monument in Brescia’s Piazza della Loggia commemorating victims of the terrorist attack on May 28th, 1974, make a sharp contrast to the work he carried out in Verona, almost as if there is a certain hesitation after so many mannered excesses. The same Pietas that informs his designs for the Piazza Della Loggia can also be seen in the presence of the water that flows through the Brion Mausoleum, almost as if to give a concrete manifestation of pity in this twentieth-century work of art. Carlo Scarpa has put together a highly sophisticated collection of structures, occupying the mausoleum’s L-shaped space stretching across both sides of the old San Vito d’Altivole cemetery. A myriad of different forms and an equally large number of different pieces, all of which are separate and yet inextricably linked to form a chain that seems to offer no promise of continuity, rising up out of these are those whose only justification for being there is to bear the warning “si vis vitam, para mortem”, [if you wish to experience life prepare for death] as if to tell a tale that suggests the circle of time, joining together the commemoration of the dead with a celebration of life. At the entrance of the Brion Mausoleum stand the “propylaea” followed by a cloister which ends by a small chapel, with an arcosolium bearing the family sarcophagi, the main pavilion, held in place on broken cast iron supports, stands over a mirror-shaped stretch of water and occupies one end of the family’s burial space. The musical sound of the walkways teamed with the luminosity of these harmoniously blended spaces shows how, in keeping with his strong sense of vision, Carlo Scarpa could make the most of all of his many skills to come up with this truly magnificent space. As well as a great commitment to architectural work, with the many projects which we have already seen punctuating his career, Carlo Scarpa also made many equally important forays into the world of applied arts. Between 1926 and 1931, he worked for the Murano glassmakers Cappellin, later taking what he had learned with him when he went to work for the glassmakers Venini from 1933 until the 1950s. The story of how he came to work on furniture design is different, however, and began with the furniture he designed to replace lost furnishings during his renovation of Cà Foscari. The later mass-produced furniture started differently, given that many pieces were originally one-off designs “made to measure”. Industrial manufacturing using these designs as prototypes came into being thanks to the continuity afforded him by Dino Gavina, who, as well as this, also invited Carlo Scarpa to become president of the company Gavina SpA, later to become SIMON, a company Gavina founded 8 years on, in partnership with Maria Simoncini (whose own name accounts for the choice of company name). Carlo Scarpa and Gavina forged a strong bond in 1968 as they began to put various models of his into production for Simon, such as the “Doge” table, which also formed the basis for the “Sarpi” and “Florian” tables. In the early seventies, other tables that followed included “Valmarana”, “Quatour” and “Orseolo”. While in 1974, they added couch and armchair “Cornaro” to the collection and the “Toledo” bed...

From the Cenedese personal collection. Here a set of 6 stem glass made in 3 different designs. All in light fume. This group is absolutely unique and would become the focus of a ta...

Five small turquoise opaline hand blown bowls by Paolo Venini (1895-1959) circa 1950 for Venini, opaque glass, acid stamp to each 'Venini Murano Italia'. Dimensons; each height 1 1/...

Murano corroded glass bottle cobalt blue midcentury Italian Design.

Very nice centerpiece in Murano glass ,opalescent and aventurine glass by the well known Master Anzolo Fuga .

Barovier & Toso Decorative Murano Candelestick with Gold Rope Cordonato Oro. A Classic example of 'cordonato oro' (gold rope) technique with lobed and...

Gorgeous and rare pair of wall sconces handcrafted from Murano Glass Master Fulvio Bianconi for Venini during the 1950s. Both wall lights are made of pink and white swirled Murano ar...

Beautiful and rare, vintage Murano hand blown opalescent and silver flecks Italian art glass flower vase. Documented to designer Ercole Barovier, for the Barovier and Toso company, c...

Vintage opaline from Florence. This is a rare color and size, a must have for any collector. Looks simply stunning. The piece is in excellent condition and a real beauty! With best wishes, Geert ?Early Bird Gallery...

Vintage 'Space Age' of Murano Pastel opaline vase soliflore Florence 1955 This is a rare color and size, a must have for any collector. Looks simply stunning.

Rare Neolitico, Murano glass sculpture /paperweight in this Fish shape by Barovier & Toso, label.

Beautiful tall vintage Murano hand blown Sommerso green to golden orange Italian art glass Heron bird sculpture. Documented to designer Archimede Seguso circa 1950s, with acid signed...

Made in Italy, 1950s. Made in Murano glass. It is a vintage piece, therefore it might show slight traces of use, but it can be considered as in excellent original condition and ready...

“Poliedri” chandelier designed by Carlo Scarpa and produced by the Italian manufacturer Venini in, 1958. Made of opaline Murano glass. Born in Venice on June 2nd, 1906, Carlo Scarpa began working at a very early age. Only a year after he had first qualified as an architect in 1926, he began working for the Murano glassmakers Cappellin & Co. in a consultative capacity; from 1927, he began to experiment with the Murano glass, and this research not only gave him excellent results here but would also inform his progress for many years to come. Between 1935 and 1937, as he entered his thirties, Carlo Scarpa accepted his first important commission, the renovation of Venice’s Cà Foscari. He adapted the spaces of this stately University building which stands on the banks of the Grand Canal, creating rooms for the Dean’s offices and a new hall for academic ceremonies; Mario Sironi and Mario De Luigi were charged with doing the restoration work on the frescos. After 1945, Carlo Scarpa found himself constantly busy with new commissions, including various furnishings and designs for the renovation of Venice’s Hotel Bauer and designing a tall building in Padua and a residential area in Feltre, which are all worth mention. One of his key works, despite its relatively modest diminished proportions, was the first of many works which were to follow in the nineteen fifties: the [bookshop known as the] Padiglione del Libro, which stands in Venice’s Giardini di Castello and shows clearly Scarpa’s passion for the works of Frank Lloyd Wright. In the years which were to follow, after he had met the American architect, Scarpa repeated similar experiments on other occasions, as can be seen, in particular, in the sketches he drew up in 1953 for villa Zoppas in Conegliano, which show some of his most promising work. However, this work unfortunately never came to fruition. Carlo Scarpa later created three museum layouts to prove pivotal in terms of how twentieth-century museums were to be set up from then on. Between 1955 and 1957, he completed extension work on Treviso’s Gipsoteca Canoviana [the museum that houses Canova’s sculptures] in Possagno, taking a similar experimental approach to the one he used for the Venezuelan Pavilion at [Venice’s] Giardini di Castello which he was building at the same time (1954-56). In Possagno Carlo Scarpa was to create one of his greatest ever works, which inevitably bears comparison with two other museum layouts that he was working on over the same period, those of the Galleria Nazionale di Sicilia, housed in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo (1953-55) and at the Castelvecchio in Verona (1957- 1974), all of which were highly acclaimed, adding to his growing fame. Two other buildings, which are beautifully arranged in spatial terms, can be added to this long list of key works that were started and, in some cases, even completed during the nineteen fifties. After winning the Olivetti award for architecture in 1956, Scarpa began work in Venice’s Piazza San Marco on an area destined to house products made by the Industrial manufacturers Ivrea. Over the same period (1959-1963), he also worked on renovation and restoration of the gardens and ground floor of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, which many consider being one of his greatest works. While he busied himself working on-site at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Carlo Scarpa also began work building a villa in Udine for the Veritti family. To shed some light on the extent to which his work evolved over the years, it may perhaps be useful to compare this work with that of his very last building, villa Ottolenghi Bardolino, which was near to completion at the time of his sudden death in 1978. Upon completion of villa Veritti over the next ten years, without ever letting up on his work on renovation and layouts, Scarpa accepted some highly challenging commissions which were to make the most of his formal skills, working on the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa as well as another theatre in Vicenza. Towards the end of this decade, in 1969, Rina Brion commissioned Carlo Scarpa to build the Brion Mausoleum in San Vito d’Altivole (Treviso), a piece he continued to work on right up until the moment of his death. Nevertheless, even though he was totally absorbed by work on this mausoleum, there are plenty of other episodes which can offer some insight into the final years of his career. As work on the San Vito d’Altivole Mausoleum began to lessen from 1973, Carlo Scarpa began work building the new headquarters for the Banca Popolare di Verona. He drew up plans that were surprisingly different from the work he was carrying out at the same time on the villa Ottolenghi. However, the plans Carlo Scarpa drew up, at different times, for a monument in Brescia’s Piazza della Loggia commemorating victims of the terrorist attack on May 28th, 1974, make a sharp contrast to the work he carried out in Verona, almost as if there is a certain hesitation after so many mannered excesses. The same Pietas that informs his designs for the Piazza Della Loggia can also be seen in the presence of the water that flows through the Brion Mausoleum, almost as if to give a concrete manifestation of pity in this twentieth-century work of art. Carlo Scarpa has put together a highly sophisticated collection of structures, occupying the mausoleum’s L-shaped space stretching across both sides of the old San Vito d’Altivole cemetery. A myriad of different forms and an equally large number of different pieces, all of which are separate and yet inextricably linked to form a chain that seems to offer no promise of continuity, rising up out of these are those whose only justification for being there is to bear the warning “si vis vitam, para mortem”, [if you wish to experience life prepare for death] as if to tell a tale that suggests the circle of time, joining together the commemoration of the dead with a celebration of life. At the entrance of the Brion Mausoleum stand the “propylaea” followed by a cloister which ends by a small chapel, with an arcosolium bearing the family sarcophagi, the main pavilion, held in place on broken cast iron supports, stands over a mirror-shaped stretch of water and occupies one end of the family’s burial space. The musical sound of the walkways teamed with the luminosity of these harmoniously blended spaces shows how, in keeping with his strong sense of vision, Carlo Scarpa could make the most of all of his many skills to come up with this truly magnificent space. As well as a great commitment to architectural work, with the many projects which we have already seen punctuating his career, Carlo Scarpa also made many equally important forays into the world of applied arts. Between 1926 and 1931, he worked for the Murano glassmakers Cappellin, later taking what he had learned with him when he went to work for the glassmakers Venini from 1933 until the 1950s. The story of how he came to work on furniture design is different, however, and began with the furniture he designed to replace lost furnishings during his renovation of Cà Foscari. The later mass-produced furniture started differently, given that many pieces were originally one-off designs “made to measure”. Industrial manufacturing using these designs as prototypes came into being thanks to the continuity afforded him by Dino Gavina, who, as well as this, also invited Carlo Scarpa to become president of the company Gavina SpA, later to become SIMON, a company Gavina founded 8 years on, in partnership with Maria Simoncini (whose own name accounts for the choice of company name). Carlo Scarpa and Gavina forged a strong bond in 1968 as they began to put various models of his into production for Simon, such as the “Doge” table, which also formed the basis for the “Sarpi” and “Florian” tables. In the early seventies, other tables that followed included “Valmarana”, “Quatour” and “Orseolo”. While in 1974, they added couch and armchair “Cornaro” to the collection and the “Toledo” bed...

Ercole Barovier “Bird”.

Beautiful pink Murano glass decorative statue made in the 1950s by a great Italian master glassmaker. The sculpture represents the figure of a very pretty turtle in a very beautiful light pink colour. The figure is stylised: in fact, we can distinguish the head, four legs, tail and shell, but the actual details cannot be distinguished, a very good sculpture. The shell is all pink...

Rare and particular vase in Murano glass by Dino Martens of the '50s. It has a particular shape, worked with transparent blown glass with shades of intense aqua green. The vase has ...

Large Cenedese Murano glass aquarium, Italy, 1950s.

Monumental Paolo Venini vase model 3556 for Venini in light grey Opalino glass. The second smaller vase measures Diameter 13 x H 38 cm. Both vases carry the Venini label and are Acid etched Venini Murano Italia...

Beautiful vintage Murano hand blown Sommerso blue and peachy color Italian art glass flower vase. Designed by Paolo Venini, circa 1955 for Venini e. Co. The vase has an elegant taper...

Vintage pitcher vase by Opaline di Florence. High contrast black red and white decor This is a rare color and size, a must have for any collector...

Made in Italy, 1950s. This is an emerald green corroso Murano glass vase. Literally “corroded” glass, i.e. an artificial stone-like finish achieved by exposing the glass to fluoridic...

Extremely rare large blue striped hand blown Murano glass bottle and stopper. Decorated with two hot applied vivid blue bands. Listed in the Venini archives under the reference 4315,...

Vintage opaline from Florence. This is an unusual period colorway and size, that will give a midcentury touch to your interior. Size of the smaller one H 12.6 in x D 4.33 in. ...

Rare Barovier & toso opal glass bottle designed in the 1950s. This beautiful flaconne Murano piece has a really eye-catching colour and presence, with turquoise opal glass with milky white opal...

Duck sculpture candle holder designed by Flavio Poli in the 1950s. Seguso paper sticker included.

Art glass ashtray in Murano glass designed by Alfredo Barbini in 1950's, Italy. Two color hand blown bowl glass with fish figure in different tones.

Beautiful vintage Murano hand blown white and blue ribbons Italian art glass flower vase. Documented to designer Dino Martens for Aureliano Toso. The vase has a ribbon of glittery co...

Opulent, elegant Barovier blown glass bling from the 1950s. Beautiful gold leaf is abundant in this piece with gold infused bubbles throughout its pulled form. Spectacular. Measures ...

Striking Murano fish glass glass sculpture, circa 1950s. Piece measures 5.25" high by 6" wide by 1.5" deep. Unsigned and in very good vintage condition.

Rare Murano glass bottle, museum piece in cobalt blue, Inciso series.

Large pinched flared-lip vase with crossing red banding and copper-dust inclusions. Murano label to underside.

Beautiful pair of vintage Murano hand blown white, red and cobalt blue ribbons Italian art glass flower vases. Documented to designer Dino Martens for Aureliano Toso. They have a rib...

Resembling a sea anemone, this blown glass vessel by Seguso is indeed a delight with its salmon pink color and wealth of interior bubbles. Heavy, thick and wonderfully obese and glob...

Seguso paperweight Murano glass 1950 Italy.

Here we have a very rare Carafe by the well known Murano Master Ermanno Toso. Made for the Fratelli Toso studio.

Ercole Barovier Corniola Murano Glass vase for Barovier & Toso, Italy 1952 Original Label.  

Fulvio Bianconi 5 glasses murano glass 1955! Italy.

Made in Italy, 1950s. These bowls are made in Murano glass. They are vintage pieces, therefore they might show slight traces of use, but they can be considered as in excellent origin...

This stunning handblown bowl was was realized in Murano, Italy- the island off the coast of Venice- renowned for centuries for its superlative glass production circa 1960. It feature...

Rare, and very colorful, Murano hand blown painted style, multi-color splashes Italian art glass double vase with gold leaf throughout. Created in the manner of designer Dino Martens...

Beautiful vintage Murano hand blown opalescent white and caramel Italian art glass bunny rabbit sculpture / figurine. Documented to designer Archimede ...

Priced per item (2 vases available as shown). Beautiful vintage Murano hand blown soft pink, silver flecks and large millefiori murrines Italian art g...

Refined artistic glass vase, Italy, production 1950s Murano. Not signed. Typical model called a handkerchief in the shade of blue. Small object but therefore very precious to be incl...

Large Gio Ponti and Paolo Venini A Canne Morandiane series murano glass for Venini, 1955 Signed with three-line acid stamp to underside 'Venini Murano ...

Italian Corroso Murano glass set of 32 pieces drinking glasses. 8 Pieces per size from drinking glasses to shots glasses. Deep grey/ green colored glass Attributed to Seguso Vetri...

Please note, priced per item (3 available) - Beautiful vintage Murano hand blown gold flecks art glass seashells. Documented to designer Flavio Poli for the Seguso Vetri d'Arte compa...

Studio glass vase based on a mouth-blown bottle shape of tortoise-shell splatter pattern (in red/brown), indented in the centre and clear glass used for hand-applied handles, feet an...

Seguso Aquarium Murano glass 1950 Italy.

Priced per item (2 available). Beautiful vintage Murano hand blown black, white, controlled bubbles and gold flecks Italian art glass seashell sculptural bowl. Documented to Alfredo ...

Vase by Dino Martens for Barovier & Toso, 1954. The vase features the half filigree technique. The Dino Martens vase is the model 6049, 1954 - Murano. The colors in the vase are whi...

Fratelli Toso Murrine “ Choker/Necklace “ Murano Glass Silver Metal 1958 Italy.

Beautiful, and very rare Murano handblown orange Ombre fade rim Italian art glass encased bird centerpiece / display bowl, with gold flecks, and iridescent glass on the bird figure. ...

Hand-blown green glass vase model 80 with gold foil and murrhines, from the Reazione Policrome Series, A perle (or Leopoardo) by Giulio Radi for Arte Vetraria Muranese or A.V.E.M., M...

Seguso “Zanfirico".

Elegant large vintage Murano hand blown blue opalescent and gold flecks Italian art glass cornucopia flower vase. Documented to Archimede Seguso, circa 1950s and published in his boo...

Mid Century Italian Murano flower vase. Blue, Purple with Gold