Murano Glass

Auction 179B

15. October 2025 at 3:00 PM CEST

In addition to important vases by Venini and Barovier, this time there are some special works by Archimede Seguso and Dino Martens.

The highlight of the auction is a vase ‘Eldorado risveglio’ by Dino Martens from 1953. The vase, with its rare, highly imaginative, and technically elaborate decoration in a double-necked form typical of the period, is estimated at €10,000–15,000. A small ‘Oriente’ jug (€1,200-1,600) and a blue ‘Iridato’ carafe (€1,400-1,800) are also beautiful and rare works by Martens.

Archimede Seguso occupied a particularly important position in Murano as the owner, designer, and glassblower of the factory named after him. Many of his techniques are considered great inventions and are almost impossible to imitate. One example is his ‘Merletto’ technique, which exist in various variations. Rarely seen on the market, but fortunately represented twice at the auction, is the ‘Merletto’ decoration structured by colored fields: The ‘Merletto irregolare’ vase, designed in 1953, with a blue structure, multiple bulges, and a lively, undulating rim, is estimated at €5,500-6,500; the same estimate applies to the ‘Merletto’ vase, created a year earlier, with a purple structure in a slender and very tall teardrop shape.

Lawyer and company founder Paolo Venini employed many artists and architects as designers in his glass factory, which he founded in 1921. The two most important were probably the architect Carlo Scarpa and the painter, designer, and illustrator Fulvio Bianconi. However, Scarpa began his career on Murano with the Cappellin company. Around 1930, he designed the bright green and extremely rare fish in thin-walled ‘Incamiciato’ technique for this company, which is being offered at auction with an estimate of €7,000-9,000. At Venini, between 1934 and 1936, he created the simple, thick-walled green vase ‘Sommerso a bollicine’, which is valued at €5,000-6,000. Fulvio Binaconi is famous for his blue, white, red, and green color palette. This color choice is evident in various techniques such as ‘Pezzato’, ‘A canne’, ‘A fasce’, and ‘Scozzese’. The large number of objects from this group in the auction is led by a ‘Pezzato’ bottle vase, which impresses with its virtuoso painterly composition of glass plates (€4,000-6,000).

Ercole Barovier has a completely unique language of form and color. Like Archimede Seguso, he was both a designer and company owner and began working with color field decorations in the mid-1950s. Almost the entire spectrum of these decorations can be admired in the auction. Starting with the ‘Pezzati’ floor vase from 1956, which is estimated at €2,400-3,000 with its dazzling checkerboard pattern in gray-brown, the gray and amber vase in the particularly rare ‘Moreschi’ decoration from 1957 is equally fascinating (€5,000-6,000), a large ‘Intarsio’ vase from 1961-63 with triangular tiles in a coveted color combination of blue and red (€3,000-4,000), and last but not least, the very rare ‘Bicolori’ vase from 1967, which combines pale opal white with orange-red (€2,500-3,500).

All highlights