Topic: Venini "Inciso" vase

[rocco]

Just wanted to share the newest addition to my small Murano collection

Stunning Venini "Inciso" vase, flattened shape, 16 cm high, flared and organic rim, blue and rose cased in colourless glass.
The 3 line acid stamp reads venini mvrano ITALIA, and is almost impossible to detect...

I think you can understand my excitement when I saw it in a local charity shop at a ridiculously low prize.
It has a small chip to the base, but what the heck

My literature on Venini is very small, and I couldn't find this shape anywhere on the web either; so any further info very much appreciated.
In Waltraud Neuwirth's small book is a taller flattened Inciso vase with similar colours and rim (but not flared) from 1957.

Thanks for looking,
Michael

[johnphilip]

Wow thats really nice .

[rocco]

Thanks, JP!

I knew I could find good Czech glass here, but thought that high-end Murano was out of my reach...
Close up pic attached.

Michael

[TxSilver]

Where's the green with envy smiley when we need one? Simply gorgeous.

[rocco]

Thanks Anita!
I had never even dreamed of finding such a piece...

And I am missing the green-with-envy smiley, too (I would need it far too often here on the board )

Michael

[langhaugh]

Gorgeous piece, Michael.  I think it's post WWII judging by the signature, and it's possible that it's a design by Tobia Scarpa as part of the "Incisi" series. The lines on this are finer than on Carlo Scarpa's "Inciso" series from pre WWII.  I think Venini made these for a fair length of time. Looks pretty good next to Stahlivkova, I'll bet. Of course, it would look even better next to a Stahlikova with a touch of pink it it.

Yours in deepest envy,

David

[rocco]

Thanks David!
The vase looks best displayed on its own

As far as I have read, the 3-line acid stamp puts it in a period between late 1940s and early 1960s.
Refering to Lesley Jackson, the designer is Paolo Venini, 1956.

As mentioned, there are several pieces from this range in Waltraud Neuwirth's book Italienisches Glas 1950-1960; one is rather similar to mine regarding colours and organic-shaped rim, a present from Venini to the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, 1958.
She is very accurate in her descriptions and doesn't attribute vaguely like Lesley Pina...

Michael

[langhaugh]

Michael:

I'd suggest writing to Venini and see what they say.  I had a look through Deboni's two volumes on Venini, and he shows pieces in a similar style by both Venini and Tobia Scarpa, but not a piece that matches your vase. I couldn't find the shape in the catalogues either, but they're incomplete.

David

PS Just checked the Catalogue Raisonne by Anna Venini de Santillina and she states that Ludovico Diaz de Santillana started working with Tobia Scarpa. "The first original dividend of their association was the series "Incisi', the product of a combined, if uneasy, partnership." And Paolo Venini is still in the picture.

[rocco]

Thanks a lot for looking in the catalogues! Very much appreciated.

I could post a pic of the page in my book showing the similar vase, but I am afraid it's against board rules (?)

Good idea to write to Venini; maybe they can add some more information...

Michael

[rocco]

Well, it took more than 2 months, but I got a very friendly reply from Venini today:

Your vase seems an original INCISI.

It’s right, the designer is Paolo Venini and the Incisi production started in 1956.

There were different models, few of them for a regular commercial production others for private sales or for a specific client.

It’s quite difficult for an ancient item to estimate a price, but  we have in production today similar shapes for € 2.000.

(I didn't ask about the value, btw, but still interesting to know how much these cost nowadays)
So the designer Paolo Venini seems to be confirmed...

Michael