136: PAOLO VENINI, Apothecary vessels, set of three < Important Design Including Post War + Contemporary Art, 5 June 2019 < Auctions

Important Design Including Post War + Contemporary Art

5 June 2019

Important Design Including Post War + Contemporary Art

Paolo Venini, Apothecary vessels, set of three - Image 1 of 1

136

Paolo Venini
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Apothecary vessels, set of three

Venini
Italy, 1959
transparent glass 19¼ h × 4¼ dia in (49 × 11 cm)

estimate: $3,000–5,000

result: $5,625

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Set includes model 4742, model 4744 and model 4741. Three-line acid stamp to underside of red example ‘Venini Murano Italia’. Three-line acid stamp ‘Venini Italy Murano’ with decal label to underside of purple example ‘Venini Murano Venezia Made in Italy’. Round acid stamp to underside of green example 'Venini Italy Murano'.
provenance: Private Collection, New York
literature: Paolo Venini and his Furnace, Barovier and Sonego, ppg. 291, 293 illustrate models

This group of three vessels with lids are from a series designed by Paolo Venini in 1959 inspired by apothecary jars from the 19th century. They express a playful, almost child-like interpretation of late Victorian style, which was popular in graphic design, fashion and film during the late 50s and early 60s. They also possess a touch of the Kremlin Domes.

Paolo Venini 1895–1959

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Paolo Venini was born in Cusano, Italy on January 12, 1895 to a middle class Lombard family. As a young man he studied law in Milan. During the first war he was stationed near Venice where he became fascinated with the glass mosaics and stained glass of St. Mark’s cathedral. After the war he began a law practice but soon came under the influence of Venetian art and antiquities dealer Giacomo Cappellin who convinced the young Venini to join him as a business partner in a new Murano glass enterprise in 1921. Since then it has become almost impossible to discuss the life of Paolo Venini as separate from his company—all the available biographical material about him lacks personal detail and inevitably lists towards the celebrated history of the company. Venini’s biography is, therefore, the story of a man whose literal personality has been subsumed by his professional life and persona.

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