Decorative Arts

Milan proves to be capital of the world in the twentieth century thanks to the excellent results of the last auction of Decorative Arts of the twentieth century held in Palazzo Serbelloni last December 3. To compete in a single catalogue an extensive collection of French Art Nouveau glasses of the Nancy School, some rare vases in glass paste by Argyl Rousseau and Decorchemont and other pieces from the same period made by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Among the ceramics, we highlight the sold out of the collection of ceramics figurines of Goldscheider (Austria), 1920s, and the good results for the contemporary production of the Turin manufactures Lenci and Essevi.

Gio Ponti and his porcelains of the 1920s and 1930s created in the Richard Ginori style are amongst the most sought after items for the rarity and refinement of the proposed examples. The box Grande Bomboniera Balletto, Grand Prix at the Paris Exposition of 1925, realized 18,000 euros, while the majolica vase L’architetto was sold for 12,500 euros. The best sale was that of a urn vase Passeggiata Archeologica , sold for 28,000 euros. Surprisingly good results even for Murano glasses, with awards that have tripled the estimates of some vases made with rare techniques by Ercole Barovier.

One of his vases of the Lenti series, of beautiful shape and large size, in heavy blue glass decorated with gold leaf and made in Murano in 1940, was awarded to an Italian collector after a long battle with an American gallery, for the beautiful amount of 21,000 euros, from an initial estimate of 4,000. In the wake of these findings, and of the great interest shown by the exhibitions held in recent years at the Venice Cini Foundation on the factories and the artists who worked in Murano, the Cambi Auction House intends to propose for the next spring a catalogue entirely dedicated to the Italian glass production of the twentieth century.

The sale will start with an outstanding vase by Hans Stoltenberg-Lerche (estimate 25,000-30,000 euros), a brilliant German author who created some glasses at the Vetreria Fratelli Toso at the end of the nineteenth century but with an already strongly Art Nouveau style and who changed the Murano glass production for the following century. Another rare item is the vase with a handle on a design by the symbolist painter Vittorio Zecchin and made with large coloured murrine in the furnace of Barovier Artists (estimate 30,000-40,000 euros). Obviously there are the Venini glasses with a nice selection of works by Carlo Scarpa, Gio Ponti and Fulvio Bianconi.

Not to disappoint collectors, in addition to the sale of Murano glasses will follow another with proposals of decorative arts of the twentieth century in Europe.

Marco Arosio