An imposing vase in the shape of a truncated cone-shaped glass made of deep emerald green pulegose glass, a technique of which Napoleone Martinuzzi was a master for the Venini factory in the years around 1930, which gives the surface a characteristic grainy and opaque texture, similar to the peel of a citrus fruit, of extraordinary formal modernity.
The body of the vase is surrounded by two hot-applied snakes, shaped in glass with a rich golden aventurine that returns a metallic and precious effect.
The reptiles, sinuous and plastically resolved with great mastery, wrap themselves around the stem with an almost sculptural naturalism — a zoomorphic motif among the most characteristic of the Martinuzzian repertoire, present in numerous specimens preserved in international museum collections.
On the sides of the snakes run two additional elements applied in a cord, which strengthen the compositional tension of the whole.
Napoleone Martinuzzi, sculptor and master glassmaker, directed Venini from 1925 to 1932, giving Murano's production a radical shift towards massive forms, innovative materials —the pulegoso, the lactimo— and a plasticity of sculptural influence that clearly distinguishes it from its contemporaries.
The vases with snakes are among the most sought-after pieces of his production today.
Conservative note:
The vase rests on a gilded metal base chiseled with lion legs, of later production and not pertaining to the original work.
It is almost certain that the original base was made of matching blown glass —as was customary in Venini/Martinuzzi production— and that this was damaged.
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SILVER Seller in Venezia, Italy
