Important Lucien Gaillard “Staghorn beetle” silver and gold inlay magnifying glass, signed c. 1900
Silver hand finished and repoussed in the form of a staghorn beetle with horns encircling the round magnifying glass, gold details
Signed: L. GAILLARD (engraved) on lower right leg, head of Minerva (950/1000 pure silver)
The staghorn beetle was a favorite form for Gaillard and the inspiration for many examples of his work including jewelry, vases and this magnifying glass. A variant model in cast bronze can be seen in the collection of the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.
Flavio Poli / Seguso Vetri d’Arte Brown Murano Art glass vase c. 1950’s
FLAVIO POLI (1900-1984) Italy
SEGUSO VETRI D’ARTE Italy
Vase c. 1950’s
Asymmetric vase in a dark brown Murano glass cased inside with a layer of pale green and clear glass
H: 10 1/2″ x W: 5 1/2″ x D: 2 3/4″
Price: $4,000
Designer, businessman, ceramic artist. Born in Chioggia, he attended the Istituto d’Arte di Venezia and began work as a designer in ceramics. in 1929 he switched to glass and for Libero Vitali’s I.V.A.M. he designed animals, splendid Novecento-style nude figures in massiccio glass, as well as bowls and urns with figures resting on the inside, on lids or as handles. He subsequently collaborated with the Compagnia di Venezia e Murano, with the furnace of Mario and Lino Nason and with the engraver Gino Francesconi. in 1934 he accepted the artistic direction of Barovier, Seguso & Ferro, later to become Seguso Vetri d’Arte, and became partner three years later. Together with the master of the principal team Archimede Seguso, Poli was the author of grandiose lighting installations, of corroded vessels, of sculptures in bulicante glass, of animals in massiccio glass shaped while hot, productions which represented a milestone in the development of Murano glass. At the height of his artistic maturity, in the years between 1950 and 1960 he designed a series of sommerso glass pieces in a Nordic style, essential forms and sharp cold colors, which were awarded prestigious prizes (Compasso d’Oro). After leaving Seguso in 1963, between 1964 and 1966 he organized the artistic glass division at the Societˆ Veneziana di Conterie e Cristallerie.
Michael Powolny / Lötz Witwe Glaswerks Jugendstil Set of Three “Tango” Glass Vases c. 1920
PROF. MICHAEL POWOLNY (1871-1954) Austria
LÖTZ WITWE GLASWERKS Klostermuhle
Set of three “Tango” glass vases c. 1920
Blown tall yellow glass with applied black handles, blown orange glass with applied cobalt blue handles, blown red glass with applied black handle-form feet
Marks: Cecho. Slovakia (acid etched in an oval) (red vase)
Yellow and black vase H: 6 1/2” x Dia: 6″
Orange and cobalt blue vase H: 5 1/2” x Dia: 6″
Red and black vase H: 3 1/2” x Dia: 6″
For more information see: Lötz: Böhmisches Glas 1880-1940, Band 1, Helmut Ricke and Ernst Ploil, (Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1989) ; Glass of the Avant-Garde, From Vienna Secession to Bauhaus, The Torsten Bröhan Collection from the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, Madrid, Torsten Bröhan, Martin Eidelberg (Munich, London, New York: Prestel Verlag, 2001).
Other Powolny works: Jugendstil Art Nouveau: floral und functional forms, Siegfried Wichmann (New York / Boston: Graphic Society, Little, Brown and Co., 1984), p. 226; Vienna 1900-1930: Art in the Home, Historical Design exhibition catalogue (New York: Historical Design, Inc., 1996), p. 45; Modernism:Modernist Design 1880-1940, The Norwest Collection, Norwest Corporation, Minneapolis, Alastair Duncan (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: The Antique Collector’s Club, 1998).
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