Topic: Show off: Flavio Poli "Sommerso" vase

[rocco]

Never ever dreamed of finding a Flavio Poli Sommerso piece, but here it is -- and a gorgeous one it is, too:
a vase like a monolith, 25 cm tall and weighing 4.8 kg.
Really hard to photograph due to the sobre colours (greenish grey -- pinkish red -- reddish brown).

Bought from German ebay (and the toughest buy I ever made there -- I even had to deal with the seller's lawyer to get it )

Similar shaped (and sized) vase >> here (classic Poli "Corroso" colourway; the revised description is further down -- "auction notices").
That would make mine probably Model 12403 as well?

And the colourway is the same as in these vases on Antique Helper (one of them is labeled), seem to be from the same "range": >> Link 1, >> Link 2
Those are not as massive as mine, so the colours are a little bit clearer...

Mine has a retailer's label from a shop in Lido di Jesolo, favourite spot for German tourists from the 1950s onwards.

Michael

[antiquerose123]

WOW that is SWEET!!

Why did you have to deal with the seller's lawyer to get it? 

 I guess this piece will always now have a real special memory.....LOL......at least a weird story always attached to it. 

[rocco]

Thanks Rose

This vase is the most amazing find since I started collecting midcentury modern things 20 years ago.
I bought my first book about 1950s design then, and though there are only a few pages devoted to glass, several of them show Poli vases.
Since then he is my glass hero...

And though other Poli shapes and colours may be more easily accessible, I love the way my vase reveals its inner beauty only in a certain light; for the rest it looks like a dark monolith.

Michael

P.S.: if you are interested in the anecdote on how I got it I can tell it in the cafe

[dirk.]

Surely worth the fight! Well done, Michael! 

[Anik R]

I know nothing about Murano glass, but that's an extremely attractive vase -- great shape and beautiful colour. I'm so glad it found it's way to such an appreciative collector.

[ardy]

Sounds like a wonderful buy but how much light does it need to show of the Poli sommerso?

Would not mind seeing it back lit...

[TxSilver]

I'm off to the cafe to see if there a story of wrestling with the lawyer for the vase. Sounds intriguing.

[rocco]

Thanks all!

@ardy: the vase looks great on the windowsill with light coming from behind, but even then it is very dark.
My normal setup obviously came to a limit when photographing this vase (too much white mirroring everywhere...)

I shall think about a setup with back light to show the sommerso better, which is really beautiful IMHO. (I love that ruby red layer inbetween -- seems almost like a signature feature for Flavio Poli).
And I forgot to mention: it has the best base finish I have ever seen -- no edge, not even bevelling, just polished to a perfect smooth curve.

Michael

[chopin-liszt]

That is something else Michael.   
My Michael would have it in the house like a shot.  It has power and presence as well as beauty.

[rocco]

Thanks Sue! -- It is a very serious piece of glass

I tried my best to get a decent shot of it with backlight (to show the Sommerso better as ardy wished) , but the thick glass and dark colours are beyond my photographic skills...

Michael