Topic: Handkerchief vase - Is it a Venini by Tyra Lundgren?

[Anik R]

Hi,

I'm posting this for an acquaintance.

She bought this vase from a well-situated man who was downsizing. He told her he bought the piece several years ago in Murano, Italy for a handsome sum. Is it possible that the vase is a Murano by Tyra Lundgren, or is it by another maker?  It's 28cm tall (6") and weighs 2,7kg (6lbs).

Thank you for your help and comments.
Anik

[rocco]

Hi Anik,
I don't really know.

Personally, I have a rule of thumb: if it doesn't have an acid stamp (or for later production an incised mark), it is likely another maker -- but I am sure there are exceptions.

You have probably seen these two auctions of similar vases >> Link 1, >> Link 2
One says "Probably Murano by Tyra Lundgren for Venini", the other seems quite confident that it is; neither mentions a mark.

Let's see what our Murano experts will say...

Michael

[Anik R]

Thank you for your thoughts, Michael.

When I saw her photos, my first thought was that it's Polish (Jozefina made a whole series of these handkerchief vases with thick clear glass bases).  I do hope for her that it's something a little more special.

[Paul S.]

Men have been known to lie, predictably.

I'm with Michael, and really don't know, so should probably keep quiet, but...............it seems that not all Venini's output is signed, although there was an acid backstamp.....VENINI MURANO ITALIA, for the period in question.              Can say that looking in Leslie Pina's 'Fifties Glass', the only piece of work positively attribtable to Lundgren is, as you might expect, made using 'filigrana' decoration, rather than this thick non-thread like swathes of colour.
She was known, apparently, for a particular design of glass called a Calla vase - bit like a sort of 'jip' design - and I believe these were also made useing the well known threaded decoration.

I hope for your friend's sake this is something special, but hope she doesn't go out and spend the money just yet.

[Anik R]

Thank you for commenting, Paul. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Murano or about Lundgren as a designer.

Some additional info: Though it's not visible from the photo, the piece has got a neat, polished indent to the base.

Thank you again.

[rocco]

If you go to >> this site and scroll down to the pic with the banded fish at the right, there is some info on Tyra Lundgren as a designer for Venini (and a pic of the "Calla" vase).

I would expect a piece of Venini glass to show a much more refined decor than the vase which started this thread (but I may be wrong).

Michael

[langhaugh]

Anik,

It doesn't look like Lundgren or Venini to me.  Lundgren was pre-WWII and fazzoletto was post-war. I'm with Michael: not nearly refined enough for Venini. Much more likely to be  relatively modern and from somewhere other than Murano.

David

PS Just had a look at the links Michael suggested and I'm fairly sure that neither of those are Lundgren or Venini either. Just goes to show how even some decent auction houses can get it wrong. I did a little digging in the Venini books and there is nothing like this there. The Calla case is different and much more refined. However, an interesting tit bit from the description of Bianconi's fazzoletto, "Some time earlier [than 1948] Pietro Chiesa had created something similar for Gio Ponti's company, Fontana Arte, styled as a stiff, stylized handkerchief; even Tyra Lundgren confessed to having had the idea of a glass composition in the form of a handkerchief."  But she never designed one.

[Anik R]

Thank you very much Michael and David!  I'll let her know it's definately not Murano.

Anik

P.S. I still think it's Polish (or other central / eastern European country) and quite modern. Though I can't find the same blue ribbon pattern, handkerchiefs with heavy clear glass bases were/are produced by several Polish glassworks, including Jozefina: 2010 Jozefina catalogue

[Paul S.]

would seem that Lundgren did return to Venini post 1945 - the Calla vases were from 1948  -  a very interesting read in this link...
http://www.italian-glass.net/articles002.html ......         obviously a lady who apparently designed for some of the biggest names....Moser and Kosta amongst others.
Sorry to hear this piece appears not to have that connection.

[aa]

I still think it's Polish (or other central / eastern European country) and quite modern.

Me too..has an LSA feel to it.

http://www.lsa-international.com/type-1/vases/vase-455.html