Topic: Best example of Bullicante - Any Ideas who made it?

[ardy]

Ardy, your comment reminds me of a time I caught my OH gazing in awe at a large and striking lump of beautiful cased yellow and black glass in a posh gallery in Amsterdam, before he noticed I'd noticed him gazing.
When he did, he got flustered and growled; "I'm a man. I like curves."
Like you, he just likes what he likes and that's that.

Sue - we men are nice and simple, whereas your sex are never set or predictable.

My partner goes through agonies picking colours. It takes me about 20 secs; although I can make a pig's ear out of a silk purse, still in classic male manner, I just repaint it! Better still, in the past, I have paid for a colour consultant and then used the scheme over and over.

If I see a piece of glass I like, that is it......assuming I can afford it.....

[BDG55]

I believe the confusion comes in due to the fact that if you do a search for Sfumato, as you did, all of the definitions pertain to art and not glass, so as a result, we're led to believe that the definition holds true for glass.

I've gone through five of my Murano reference books, but none provides the technique for Sfumato.  The only information that comes up, time and again, is that the color is dark gray.  Doing a Google for images... same thing, the majority of the pieces are gray.  Now, you may find a few pieces that are "said" to be Sfumato, but outside of some Scandinavian pieces I've seen which are brown, but the others aren't according to the "Murano" defination of the word.

Found this online:

Fumato... It consists in a glass that, under a transparent colourless layer, contains inside it coloured corpuscles that, due to the diffraction of light, give the visual impression of "smoke". It is obtained as follows: during production, the surface of the item is exposed to the smoke of a wood fire; a certain quantity of greyish particles (unbrnt carbon and ash) adheres to the surface of the glass that is in turn vigorously marked with metal tools so as to form some grooves.
The entire surface is later coated again with another layer of molten glass.

This technique was presumably invented by Alfredo Barbini at the V.A.M.S.A. glass factories at the end of the 30s and was used to execute both vases and figures of birds.  Some minor furnaces took this technique up again in the 80s, but for all intents and purposes, it's seldom used.

Mod: quoted text highlighted by quote box for clarity. Source of the quote is this page in the MuranoNet site:

I don't know what reference books you have access to, but outside of Pinas first book,  where she incorrectly assigned the term to Polveri glass - but later corrected it in her next book -  I have been unable to find a Polveri piece identified as Sfumato. 

What I think we're trying to do is fit Da Vinci's definition to glass, ignoring the fact that practically all of the Murano reference books that mention the technique, and photos found online, fit the description of dark "smoky" glass to a T.  I hope this helps.

 Glass,  you gotta love it!
 

[inca]

I just found this thread. I love the Sfumato technique, and I have compiled a number of Sfumato pictures for you. I have close-ups so you can really see the end result in detail. Mostly smoke on black amethyst but also a few on glass in different colours.

[inca]

more pictures

[inca]

more pictures

[inca]

final set of pictures

[Lustrousstone]

Lovely, thanks Ingela

[ahremck]

I like Ingela have quite a few FM Marcolin items.  I am told that V Nason in Murano produced items very similar.  I would suggest they are more likely to be makers.

Ross

[inca]

Reply #2 - Chopin_liszt:
” The work looks a little like a more sophisticated version of the feathery effect produced by Konnstglas Ronneby in their medium sized birds. I'm not sure they would have managed this fabulous bowl and if they had, I'm sure we'd already know about it.”

I can confirm that FM Konstglas/Marcolin in Sweden made vases, bowls, paperweights and abstract sculptures



From MuranoNet:
” This technique was presumably invented by Alfredo Barbini at the V.A.M.S.A. glass factories at the end of the 30s and was used to execute both vases and figures of birds.  Some minor furnaces took this technique up again in the 80s, but for all intents and purposes, it's seldom used.”


”Some minor furnaces took this technique up again in the 80s”

If MuranoNet are saying ”in the 80’s” I take it that they refer to V. Nason and Formia.

I can add the following:
Marcolin used sfumato at Reijmyre in Sweden late 1950’s.
Marcolin used sfumato in Ronneby for 30 years, 1961-1991.
Marcolin continued to use sfumato after they moved their production from Ronneby.

I have some more pictures with the sfumato effect. I am totally fascinated with all the variations different glassworks can create. I just love it!

[Penelope12]

Wow! You have some wonderful Sfumato pieces there Inca, I might have to try and find room for a few of those in my collections now...where will it all end!