Wright Auction

This piece is a fantastic example of a Merletto vase designed by Archimede Seguso in 1952. The Merletti have become iconic in post war glass design and the series is emblematic of the designer’s brilliance. Born on the island of Murano and already working in the Seguso glass furnaces at the age of 11, Archimede Seguso was a maverick in many ways. While a member of the venerated Seguso family, Archimede Seguso went out on his own, opening his own glassworks where he both designed and blew glass. Though he had been trained at the feet of master blowers, Archimede had ideas of his own regarding the possibilities of technique and many of his inventions, Merletti paramount among them, are marveled at even today. The Merletto technique is a virtuoso take on Filigrana—the twisting of fine glass canes—and in this vase we see areas of complex canes bisected by green glass used to separate the sections in an entirely abstract manner. The resulting form is more akin to sculpture than vessel and the elaborate webbing is an act of sheer abstraction, a technique of his own invention and one that remains one of the most mysterious in the canon of Murano glass production. Vases from this series were exhibited at the Biennale of 1952 and were embraced by critics and the public alike. Archimede Seguso is roundly considered the greatest glass blower of the 20th century and a forerunner of the Studio Glass movement in America.