“Incanto Arte Svela…” (Enchantment Art Unveils) are the opening words of an anonymous XVI century sonnet, discovered in an ancient manuscript. And 'Incanto' is the name of the Italian auction house that will enchant us with their collection of glasses, to be auctioned on 13 April. Ancient Romans would say nomen omen – the name is a sign: both enchanters and enchanted by art, Incanto has a long history of dealing with beautiful design objects. The next spring auction will feature 198 lots that span the early 1900s to contemporary designs. There are glasses crafted by the great masters of the Venetian tradition, as well as works by contemporary Italian and foreign artists.
Flavio Poli was a famous drawer, potterist and painter who operated after the Second World War. The Vase from the ‘Siderali’ series is made of blown glass and submerged crystal, with a large central murrina. It was designed in 1952 for Seguso Vetri d’Arte, who throughout the years commissioned sizeable vases, sculptures and lamps from Poli. Its beauty is hypnotic and the eye is captivated by those concentric circles that almost seem to draw you into another dimension of time and space.
Fulvio Bianconi is known for his colourful and anthropomorphic vases, as well as his bowls and jugs that bring together contemporary abstract art and Colour Field experimentation. Bianconi started glassmaking as a hobby before it became his job, though this certainly didn’t taint his passion throughout the years. This large bottle on sale has a long, transparent glass-blown neck with saffron, red, and aquamarine bands – an exquisite example of Bianconi’s work.
Eight-times winner of the Compasso d’Oro and many more international awards, Mario Bellini always thought of glass as “transparency, levity and magic”. This work of his comes from the Sogni Infranti (Broken Dreams) series, and is characterised by iridescent blown glass and multicolour details. Realised for Venini in 1992, the vase has a rich composition given by its complex combination of forms, colours and light.
Amongst the many treasures of Incanto’s catalogue we find here the Simirone, made by the multi-hyphenate artist Alessandro Mendini. This monumental vase in blown glass has diagonal polychrome lines and a base in solid wheel-engraved glass. It is an object of deep fascination and unique design.
Riccardo Licata held more than 300 exhibitions in over 35 countries, with works in the collections of major international contemporary art museums, including Florence, Belluno, Reggio Emilia, Chicago, Milan, New York, Paris, Stuttgart, Warsaw, Venice and Vienna. This glass-blown vase with a double incalmo technique and a central band with murrine is an extraordinary Barovie & Toso prototype from the 1950s, displaying Licata’s exceptional artistry.
“Meditations on details” – this is how artist Andrew Baldwin describes his creations. In this work titled Finding Balance, Baldwin delights us with two jacketed glass vases, the surface of which is engraved and finished by hand. These two unique pieces were made in 2004 and they represent the artist’s exploration of space, as he creates an intricate bundle of colourful threads that embrace the glass all throughout.
You can find more of these extraordinary pieces of Murano glass on Wednesday 13 April. In the meantime, search the full catalogue here