Large oval “opaque murrine” glass bowl with surface frosted by grinding

Another triumph of Carlo Scarpa’s creativity and the extraordinary hand of Paolo Venini was their murrine opache glassware, the result of their reinvention of the traditional murrine fusion technique and impressive grinding wheel skill for the final definition and finish of the original shape.

Exhibited at the 1940 Venice Biennale, these opaque murrine wares were enthusiastically admired by that dynamic promoter of Italian applied arts, Gio Ponti, who expressed heartfelt approval for this series of examples characterized by powerful dark blues and bright reds in the October 1940 issue of Domus. Ponti concluded his article with a hope for the future: “We can only wish that these and other objects of beauty made in Murano today are not merely purchased as gifts in current fashion but are instead collected as testimony to the art of a lively period to be remembered for the intensity and quality of its production.”

Bibliography

Marino Barovier, Carlo Scarpa. Glass of an Architect, Skira, Milan 1999, pages 169, 221 no. 244; Marina Barovier (editor), Carlo Scarpa. Venini 1932-1947, Skira, Milan, 2012, exhibition catalogue (Venice, Le Stanze del Vetro, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, August 29, 2012 – January 6, 2013), page 399.