Year after year, spectacular examples of 20th-century Murano glass are discovered in the United States, Canada, and South and Central America. These true masterworks, produced by the best companies, craftsmen, and designers, raise an intriguing question: how did they arrive on these shores?
These true masterworks, produced by the best companies, craftsmen, and designers, raise an intriguing question: how did they arrive on these shores?
Today, many nations and cultures are restricting the sale of, or demanding the return of, artistic objects produced by their native craftsmen. However, the entire history of glassmaking seems to follow a different pattern. From the Bronze Age onward, the finest artistic glass produced by the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Levant, and the entire Mediterranean basin was often made for export and trade. Even esoteric glass objects with specific cultural significance were widely traded.
When glassblowing was first developed in Syro-Palestine during the first century BCE, the Romans quickly adopted and refined the technology, sending beautifully crafted blown glass to every corner of their empire. This explains why some of the finest examples of Roman blown glass are still unearthed in far-flung regions like Britannia.
The trend of creating luxury glassware for export continued during the High Middle Ages and Renaissance. Murano craftsmen produced the finest blown glass, and Venetian merchants sailed to ports across the known world with hulls filled with elegant glassware ready for trade. This pattern persisted in the 19th and 20th centuries, but with even greater intentionality.
When Milanese lawyer Paolo Venini founded his glass company in 1921, his goal was to create a modern, international brand. By combining an international modernist aesthetic with Milanese style and age-old Murano craftsmanship, Venini glass became synonymous with quality and innovation. Soon, Venini glass was being sold at retail shops in New York, Tokyo, London, and other major cities worldwide. Other Murano producers followed suit, opening retail operations and partnering with fine department stores throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Even in the early 20th century, wealthy Americans traveling the Grand Tour of Europe were acquiring Murano masterworks and bringing them home to the East Coast, Midwest, and California. This explains why many of the finest mosaic vases produced by Artisti Barovier, for example, are still discovered in American households today. The Salviati shop in Piazza San Marco also sold these masterpieces of early modern design to affluent Americans during the 1920s and 1930s.
Murano glass became even more popular in the postwar period. Between 1950 and 1953, the Italy at Work exhibition traveled to 12 major museums throughout the United States, exposing millions of Americans to Italian handicrafts and design. Murano glass by Venini and Seguso featured prominently in the exhibition. Concurrently, department stores in host cities held synchronized exhibitions where attendees could purchase objects directly. This innovative concept brought Italian design into American homes on an unprecedented scale.
Fine Murano glass also arrived in the Americas through immigration. Wealthy Italian immigrants fleeing social and political unrest in Europe brought fine Italian art and design objects with them to their new homes, particularly in South and Central America. Masterworks of Murano glass have recently been discovered in Argentina and Brazil, where significant Italian immigrant populations have long existed.
Whenever a masterpiece of Murano glass—or an unknown collection—suddenly emerges from obscurity in the Americas, I wonder how and why it remained “hidden” for so long. In Europe, such discoveries are much less common because Murano glass has always been an integral part of the culture, often handed down as treasured family heirlooms.
The Americas, however, are vast and diverse, with populations that constantly reinvent themselves. This melting pot dynamic can sometimes cause objects from other cultures to lose their significance over generations. This may explain why Carlo Scarpa Pennellate vases turn up in thrift stores, and blue Napoleone Martinuzzi elephants or Barovier Primavera camels suddenly materialize among the overlooked possessions of a beloved aunt.
...fine works in glass continue to cross national and cultural boundaries, bringing aesthetic beauty and cultural curiosity to all.
Today, with the internet, social media, and tools like Google Lens, long-lost masterworks of Murano glass are re-emerging from across the Americas. To me, this is an encouraging notion: that fine works in glass continue to cross national and cultural boundaries, bringing aesthetic beauty and cultural curiosity to all.
