Topic: Le Murrine Veneziane

[Anne]

Example of murrine pendant bought in Venice.

[chopin-liszt]

  I can't do pics. I bought mine from a stand in an antiques centre - but all clearly labelled as new and from Thailand.

My murrine "pad" has a hole in the middle with a silver flower through it, and an "art novueau" sort of garland around it, but has the same style of loop at the top, and the canes are the same.
Is there somewhere in Thailand called "italy", these days?
And don't you have to be very careful about the glass you buy in Venice?   Especially the sorts of things bought for keepsakes of the visit?

[Anne]

No idea Sue, I've never been, this was something my late mother bought there and brought back for me as a gift.  The fittings are pretty generic, they can be bought anywhere, I buy them for the jewellery I make too.

[KevinH]

Hi ladies,

These pendants and other jewelry items have typically been made by companies in Murno such as Ferro & Lazzarini and many certainly date back to the 1980s and maybe earlier.

I believe that probably the majority of such items are made with millefoiri canes (murrine) from the Moretti company. But therein lies the start of a problem. Moretti canes have been sold to glass workers around the world.

In this link showing a pendant in a box identical to Anne's mum's, a pleasing representation of a tree is given. I am reasonably sure it is genuine Murano and from the Ferro & Lazzarini company. Similar item shown in at least one of my paperweight books. Note the canes at the base of the tree.

However, a not-quite-as-good version of a millefiori tree has also been made in China (examples shown in a Chinese catalogue [Zibo] I have from the year 2000) and I would not be surprised to learn (as Sue has stated) that modern versions of such work are coming out of Taiwan.

Perhaps those items in boxes like Ane's are indeed Murano, but can we say whether Chinese or Taiwanese equivalents are sold in their own particular boxes?

As with general Murano gift wares, it would make life for collectors much simpler if items were marked with the original maker instead of just generic labels and box wording.

[chopin-liszt]

None of the pieces I saw from Thailand were boxed. They were mostly just displayed on a shelf or shelves, with a big card saying that the jewellery was from Thailand. Unless there was nothing at all. 

[KevinH]

Just realised ... Sue said Thailand ... I said Taiwan.

Which should it be?

[chopin-liszt]

Thailand.