1950s Attributed Ercole Barovier for Barovier & Toso Murano Graffito Console Bowl

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Exceptional midcentury Murano glass console bowl, attributed to Ercole Barovier for Barovier & Toso, circa 1950s, and executed in the … Read more Exceptional midcentury Murano glass console bowl, attributed to Ercole Barovier for Barovier & Toso, circa 1950s, and executed in the celebrated Graffito technique.

The dramatically stretched freeform vessel combines robin’s-egg turquoise blue and opaque white lattimo glass with gold aventurine decoration, encased within substantial clear glass. The colored and metallic bands are combed into repeating festoons, creating an intricate feathered, almost web-like pattern that radiates from the center and elongates organically toward the edges as the glass was worked.

The shallow sculptural body is raised on expressive pulled clear-glass lobes beneath, giving the bowl an animated profile and creating the impression that the patterned surface is suspended above its supports. Viewed from above, the rhythmic turquoise, white and gold decoration converges toward the center in a particularly beautiful starburst effect.

The attribution is supported by documented examples of Ercole Barovier’s Graffito work combining lattimo, colored glass and gold decoration combed into festoons, together with documented Barovier & Toso Graffito console and freeform bowls of closely related construction from the period. The precise model has not been identified, and the piece is therefore conservatively offered as attributed to Ercole Barovier for Barovier & Toso.
A sophisticated and highly decorative example of postwar Murano glassmaking, combining complex internal decoration, substantial clear casing and expressive hand-worked form.
Murano, Italy, circa 1950s.

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