“Merletto” glass vase

Archimede Seguso began his long career at an early age in the footsteps of the era’s masters, in time becoming a leader figure on the Murano glassmaking scene in his own right. Specializing at Seguso Vetri d’Arte in so-called a massetto technique that permits sculptures to be created in solid glass, he designed a number of pieces that have gone down in the genre’s history, such as the hippopotamus and the boxer.

Opening a furnace of his own after the Second World War, he dedicated his attention to the ancient techniques of zanfirico and filigrana glass, producing some of his most extraordinary items here, such as the merletto glass vases presented at the 1952 Venice Biennale. Based on the constructive elements of the Murano glassmaking tradition, these vases aspired to the heights of 1950s originality and difficulty in execution.

Previously unpublished