■ COBALT BLUE GLASS AMPHORA VASE, issued by Pauly & C. - Compagnia Venezia Murano (C.V.M.), Murano, Italy, circa 1935, the amphora-form body hand-blown in a single gather of deep cobalt vetro blu, rising from a disc foot on a short stem to a softly flared rim, the shoulder fitted with two applied loop handles pulled and joined by hand, the body carrying the fine seed bubbles characteristic of period Murano soffiato. The silhouette drawn directly from classical antiquity and reinterpreted in the graphic restraint of Venetian glass production of the 1930s, the amphora form belonging to the Art Deco vocabulary that Murano maintained in parallel with its ornamental tradition through the interwar years.
Good condition consistent with age, the asymmetries of the applied handles a mark of hand production rather than defect. Height 23.2 cm (9 ⅛ inches); width 15 cm (5 ⅞ inches); depth 12 cm (4 ¾ inches).
Pauly & C. - Compagnia Venezia Murano traces its origin to the Compagnia di Venezia e Murano, founded in 1866 by Antonio Salviati with the British diplomat Sir Austen Henry Layard and the antiquarian Sir William Drake. Pauly & C., founded by Emilio Pauly in 1902, merged with the C.V.M. in 1919 to form the present house, which has operated continuously on Murano since. Throughout the early twentieth century the house commissioned and distributed work by a generation of designers and master glassblowers who would shape the course of modern Italian glass - Umberto Bellotto among them.
Provenance:
□ Distinguished private collection, Venice.
See also:
□ Item #00003. Pauly & C. Murano Amber Vase.