Italian, Murano, Venetian Small Sommerso Glass Vase,40's-50's, Att: Flavio Poli

Description

Italian, Venetian, Murano Exquisite Free Form Sommerso Vase, Mid Century Modern, Attributed to Flavio Poli for Seguso Vetri D'Arte.  Reduced to a ridiculously low price!
This is a perfectly beautiful free form display piece. It measures
7 1/2 " tall, and is 6" wide
across the widest part of the vase, with a 3" opening across the top, and stands on a 3" wide ground off base.  After much research I believe this piece was done by Flavio Poli for Seguso Vetri D'Arte sometime in the late 40's-50's. He began experimenting with Sommerso glass, a technique achieved by overlapping different layers of glass in a variety of different colors and thicknesses. I found a reference piece, an aqua and green colored Sommerso piece layered with green at the top and bottom, which unlike mine, has tiny bubbles, in addition. I found it pictured on the internet done c. 1940's. It was sold by Wright Auction in "The Modern Glass Featuring Masterworks from Murano" on Dec. 10, 2009, and is still pictured in the Catalog, no. 655. (sold price not known) That freeform piece is very similar is design and shape and size (It measires 8 1/2" high and is 6 3/4" in diameter) as the piece I am auctioning this week, which is an inch shorter and 3/4" narrower, which leads me to believe that it is indeed a Flavio Poli.  Literature Reference: "II Vetro di Murano alle Biennali, 1895-1972," Barovier, Barovier Mentasti and Doriagato, pg. 42 illustrates form.
See article on Flavio Poli below this description!
I'm listing this at a very reasonable amount. Some people think that this piece could be from the Czech Republic, but I have looked up every well-known and reasonably well-known glass blower and what they have produced. I have been unable to find even one piece of glass like this, after looking at hundreds of vases from many artists in that country! I wanted to be sure that I had NOT mislabeled it!
Anyone buying this beautiful vase will have a real treasure; The pictures actually do this piece justice!
This vase is in "Mint" condition with no chips, fleabites, scratches, repairs, or internal clouding, as I believe it has only been a display piece having never held any water with live flowers. I have had it at least 20 years where it has been displayed on a bay window sill where it catches the light and has been a true delight to see its glorious ruby red and purple colors.
I became interested in Venetian, (Murano) glass in high school where we lived 80 miles south of the Corning Glassworks, in Corning NY, where Steuben glass was made. I was enthralled by Venetian glass when I visited their museum, which contained beautiful pieces of 16th century Venetian glass goblets, tazzas, bowls, vases, ewers and compotes. (The Venetians, who have always blown glass on the island of Murano, off the coast of Venice, Italy, were the first glass blowers to figure out how to blow clear glass, around 1200 AD, the formula of which was kept secret for years, not being shared with other countries.) I wrote my English class research paper my senior year in HS on this glass, making several trips to Corning to use their research library. I have collected it for 55 years and am now, again, a "senior" (ha, ha) whose sons are not interested in my collection, so I have decided to sell it on eBay. A few years ago, I was able to sell a number of antique pieces to a small glass museum in Portland, Oregon, some of which are now in a traveling exhibition to medium-sized museums across the US. It's always been my wish to have some of my collection in a museum for posterity.
I will be listing many more glass pieces in the near future, so, if you are a collector, please add me to your "Favorites" list and check back every so often to see what I have added.
I take Paypal  for payment and require insurance to protect both of us if a piece arrives damaged
.
I will only charge what it costs me to mail it, plus a small handling charge for larger or heavy items, such as this one, requiring lots of Styrofoam peanuts and bubble wrap. (I package everything I sell in these.) Items are shipped Priority Mail by the US Postal Service. I do not offer refunds.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me. Thank you for your interest!
Flavio Poli
1900–1984
Born in Chioggia, Italy, Flavio Poli studied at the Istituto d'Arte di Venezia as a ceramicist, and also was an interior decorator, as well as a glass designer. In 1929 he began working as a glass artist for Giovita Vitali at the Industrie Vetraie Artistiche Murano or I.V.A.M. glass factory where he designed mostly sculptural pieces. In 1934 he joined the firm Seguso-Barovier-Toso and designed the famous "Zodiaco" panel, and became artistic director and a partner in the company after just three years. In 1937 the company became Seguso Vetri d' Arte and Poli became artistic director until 1963. From 1952-1963 he was best known for the Sommerso technique, when he began experimenting with
Sommerso
glass, a technique achieved by overlapping different layers of glass in a variety of colors and thicknesses. (like my piece above) The resulting pieces received international recognition as superior examples of 20th century Murano art glass and Poli was awarded the Compasso d' Oro prize in 1954. One of Italy's leading designers, Poli started his own factory in 1964
Società Veneziana di Conterie e Cristallerie, but lasted only 2 years until 1966 due to ill health. His work is usually unsigned and has won five Grand Prix awards including the grand prize at the Milan Triennales in 1951, 1954, and 1960 at
the height of his career, and his designs
were exhibited in numerous editions of the Venice Biennale, and a grand prize at the 1958 Brussels International Exposition. (Beard 242, & Cocci 118)
He died in Venice in 1984 and his works can be found in numerous public and private collections around the world including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Murano Glass Museum, Venice and the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia. (Much of this information was published in "Fifties Glass" , copyright 1993 by author of multiple books on Venetian glass, Leslie Pina.)