Fulvio Bianconi (Italian 1915-1996) for Venini §
'Arlechino' Pezzato vase, 1950
£5,040
Auction: 28 April 2023 at 11:00 BST
Description
model 4319, signed with 3 line acid stamp Venini, Murano, ITALIA (to base), glass
Dimensions
36cm high (14 1/4in high)
Provenance
Provenance
Private Collection, UK.
Footnote
Literature
Barovier, Marino and Carla Sonego. Fulvio Bianconi at Venini. SKIRA. p 181;
‘Fulvio Bianconi at Venini’ Catalogue of the exhibition at Le Stanze del Vetro (The Glass rooms) in Venice in 2015 by Marino Barovier and Carla Sonego, page 181.
‘Venetian Glass’ the Nancy Olnick and George Spanau collection. Exhibition catalogue Autumn 2000 American Craft Museum, page 116 and 219,
‘Italian Glass, Murano – Milan 1930-1970’, The Steinberg Foundation Collection catalogue by Ricke and Schmitt 1997, plate 83 page 109.
The Pezzato vase was one of the most successful designs that Fulvio Bianconi created for Venini. Bianconi used a glass mosaic in various ways producing brilliant chromatic effects. These vases were first exhibited at the 25th Venice Biennale in 1950.
The glass tesserae are first made from coloured glass canes flattened and cut to various sizes before being arranged into a mosaic. The mosaic is then heated on a fire stone to weld the different colours together. They are then picked up on a blank to form the walls of the final piece. The glass is then blown and hot worked into the desired form.
Most of the designs were in transparent glass but there are also some made from a combination of opaque pasta vitrea and transparent tesserae which became known as ‘Arlecchino’ designs and had the greatest chromatic brilliance.