Venini's Patchwork of Light

Bianconi used a glass mosaic crafted in various different ways to produce brilliant chromatic effects. These designs were first exhibited at the 25^th Venice Biennale in 1950 and subsequently at the Milan Triennale in 1951. The technique enjoyed considerable success.

The glass pieces or tesserae were first made from coloured glass canes flattened and cut to various sizes before being arranged into a mosaic. The mosaic was then heated on a firestone to weld the different colours together. They were picked up to form the walls of the final piece. The glass was then blown and hot worked into the desired form. Many of Bianconi’s pezzati vases have slightly flattened cross-sections.

^{A Venini 'Pezzato Arlecchino' vase,
c.1950, designed by Fulvio Bianconi, model no. 4319, of compressed bottle form, decorated with opaque and transparent green, red, sapphire and lattimo tesserae,
with three line 'Venini Murano Italia' acid mark,
35.5cm high}

^{Estimate £6,000 - £8,000}

Most of the designs were produced using transparent glass but there are also some examples made from a combination of opaque pasta vitrea and transparent tesserae. Bottle vases with combined opaque and transparent tesserae became known as ‘Arlecchino’ designs and these had the greatest chromatic brilliance. The bottle vase featuring in our October Design auction is a fine example of the Arlecchino style.