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Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Murano & Italy Glass => Topic started by: rocco on November 26, 2010, 04:26:47 PM
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2. Ashtray/bowl, UFO-shaped, green glass with brown/blue/dark green splashes, 20cm diameter, heavy. Has on bottom round blue/silver label "S.V.C.C. VETRI D'ARTE MURANO".
I have just found out that this is the label of Flavio Poli's company after leaving Seguso in the sixties. Does this mean it is a Poli design? And when was it produced?
Thank you for your help,
best regards from Vienna
Michael
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Not sure how that label got onto the second piece, but I wonder if it should be there. I know these ashtrays from Czech (Chrbska) production, never associated them with Italy - perhaps someone will jump on this with more accurate information.
The first piece looks like Exbor - another Czech vase.
Incidentally, you are kindly requested to present only one single piece per thread. If you have two, just start another thread. It helps to keep confusion at a minimum, makes searching easier, as well as the jobs of our moderators.
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Hi Ivo,
thank you for your suggestions!
The label on the ashtray looks authentic, is old and has a lot of wear...
I bought the piece on the fleamarket for little money about 10 years ago, so I doubt that someone placed it misguidingly (but who knows :) )
Although there is very little information on SVCC on the web, I have seen some items with the same label , and to me they seemed of varying quality (one of them being a glass duck, I guess not Flavio Poli designed ;) )
You may certainly be right that the vase is Czech. It looks like some of the Pavel Hlava designs, just have not yet seen this one ...
edit: Thanks to your input I found this blue-green vase http://picasaweb.google.com/exat53/NovyBor#5160085544765473250 (http://picasaweb.google.com/exat53/NovyBor#5160085544765473250), which really looks like a vey similar design.
And sorry about posting 2 items in one thread, I wasn't aware of the confusion this will bring for moderators...
Will not happen again!
Kind regards
Michael
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I haven't seen enough S.V.C.C pieces to comment either. Hopefully it is authentic, but a pic of the label would be helpful.
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Jindrich says the ashtrays are not Czechoslovakian. There is some suggestion of them being Romanian or Austrian (Lux), but neither of those is a firm attribution as yet.
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,36537.msg199242.html#msg199242
Mixing different IDs into the one thread won't confuse the moderators so much as the thread, and make also it difficult people searching for the thread in future. We can split this fairly easily into two threads, if that's okay with you.
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I thought that the three colour ashtray was originally done in Murano, then copied in many other places, and it's the copies we see mostly.
As Kane says, it would be very helpful to see photographs of the label , both close up and with a good bit of the piece in the picture also.
David
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Ooh, fabulous info, David! So, perhaps genuinely SVCC? It would be great to sort out the differences. The one I owned had a thinner and more opaque edging, from memory.
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Thank you all so much for your informations! Very interesting, keep going!
Cathy -- you are very welcome to spilt this thread (espacially because the question about the vase seems to be solved :-) )
I bought the ashtray about 10 years ago on the fleamarket in Vienna. Part of the label is missing (unfortunately the important part >:( ), so I was not able to identify it but few weeks ago when I did a search on the internet for "vetri d'arte murano made in italy", the readable part of the label. I found a thread in fossilfly forums where exactly the same label was depicted.
Here some pics...
I will post some other items (each its own thread :) ), I would be very interested to learn more about...
Michael
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Thanks for the very helpful photographs, Michael. That label looks like it belongs there. I would take the piece to be what the label says it to be. I've never seen it attributed to Poli, though.
David
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Agree with David. At least now we know who the copies were knocking off. Amazing how his S.V.C.C work is widely different from his SVdA days. But I also think a little blander. Great find.
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Hi, thanks a lot for your replies!
Am I right that there is very little information on S.V.C.C. and Poli's contribution to their products?
Was he the head of that company? Chief designer? How long did that company produce glass (with this label)?
Many questions still :)
Michael
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Michael:
I think that the reason that not much is published on SVCC that we know about is that it only produced "art glass" while Poli was artistic director, 1964-6. Poli was 64 when he took the position. The information I have comes from Carl Gable's Murano Magic.
I wouldn't assume that Poli designed this piece, as we don't know know when it was produced. Even if were created 1964-6 that doesn't tie it to Poli with any certainty, as artistic director doesn't mean that he was the only designer.
I don't mean to be negative. I try to be very careful with attributions, especially when they involve famous designers. It's all to easy for a "possibility" to become a "received wisdom" and soon every vaguely similar piece on the Internet is a Poli masterpiece, whether it comes from Murano or not. And most of the similar ones to this don't come from Murano.
David
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David, thanks a lot for your reply!
That is what I meant -- I do doubt that every piece with this label is a Flavio Poli design (mine included).
Still it is nice to own a thing where at least the possibility exists :)
But what is still not clear to me: how long did SVCC produce glass?
Only in the sixties, or up to now? (Which means: does the label at least give a hint on the date of production?)
Any Poli designed pieces known from SVCC?
Sorry for asking so many questions, but I am a curious person :)
Michael
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Michael:
No need to apologize for curiosity. That's why we all frequent (haunt) this site. Again, according to Carl Gable, SVCC was created in 1898 out of the reorganization of an earlier firm. It was a very big firm, the largest in Murano for a while, with branches in France and Czechoslovakia.
I did a little more digging and Rosa Barovier Mentasti in Venetian Glass writes that SVCC got out making crystal glass after WWII to focus on its other specialty, glass beads. She writes that in 1964 the managing director of SVCC, worried about the future of glass beads, wanted to get back into artistic glass and hired Poli. They produced "brilliantly coloured sommersi, elegant red or yellow pulegoso pieces with gold leaf, as well as objects in purely-coloured or regularly bubbled incalmo blown-glass." Mentasti writes that the firm was poorly organized in the marketing of artistic products. The only pieces I have seen from this period are the sommerso pieces, particularly in brown and green. Poli took with him to SVCC some very good maestri, and they may have stayed on with the firm producing their own designs.
I haven't found anything about when the firm ceased operations. From looking on the Net, the big miscinception seems to be that SVCC was Poli's company, and that he started it in 1963 or 1964.
Hope this answers some questions.
David
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Age wise, do you think this dates from the 60's? Would be good if we had more information on S.V.C.C to help tie in designs (as bad as SVdA information wise). Especially as I find very little labeled S.V.C.C about. I must admit, if it was a Poli design the colour combination is a bit odd. Also, does the glass glow at all?
I have seen this label on pieces that I believe dated from from the 60's, due to the design and similar pieces from the era.
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I'd say 1960's if for no other reason than SVCC were only making beads between 1945 and 1964. It strikes me as a very 1960's early 70's design.
David
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I must say what a good flea market find! How exciting!! I agree it strikes me as being sixties as well. I am quite fond of the oddness of this piece. It's very striking. :sm:
tam bam
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Hi, thanks a lot for this interesting discussion!
I bought this piece mainly because I liked its "1960ies modern" appeal (a little bit like an UFO :) )
And yes, the colour combination is odd. ;D
But David mentioned pieces he has seen from SVCC in green and brown, so not so far away from this one?
Would it be interesting to find out if it glows?
And don't forget, it is much bigger (20cm diameter) than the ashtrays in similar shape I have seen so far...
Michael