Hi Simon,
this is no doubt one of the most splendid Italian weights I have ever seen! You are right, there are only a few hints to known canes, especially the rooster - I thought of a distorted harlequin figure in chequered Cloth at first. I have found nothing similar in Sarpellon or Kulles...
One Thing must be noted: the red White green torsade can suspiciously refer to the Italian flag, so I would think that the weight was made after the separation of Venice to Italy from Austrian Empire, means after 1866- the Austrians watched out for nationalistic symbols very rigidly and caused anger by seizing and confiscating red-white-green beads and canes sometimes - reported by Paolo Zecchin in a Pietro Bigaglia biography (2006).- pls see fn
Second thing is, Vincenzo Moretti (and L. dalla Venezia) used a technique, where a lot of preformed square,round and triangular color and white rods were bundled (cold!)to patterns, tied and slowly heated until they fused together, then pulled- the white cane with red and blue inserts looks like this...(Sarpellon p.95 ff) - so it is fused mosaic glass rather than millefiori in strict sense.
Suggestion for a date Frame: post 1866, but before the 1914 WW I outbreak...the latticinios look much older and remind of Bussolin's work, the canes don't...
Sorry the capital letters are occuring at random and I am tired of typing over....
Anyway- no doubt, the most fascinating weight from Venezia I have ever seen! Kind regards, Erhard
-fn-Pietro Bigaglia, poliedrico imprenditore muranese / Paolo Zecchin. – 2006
In: Journal of glass studies, 48.2006, p. 279-296 Zsfassung in engl. Sprache S. 374