Posted 8 years ago
Quizzical
(1 item)
I inherited these beautiful fish from my grandmother around 15 years ago. I'd love to know more about them. I have seen a few similar examples on this site so I'm hoping for enlightenment! Sadly one of the fish was damaged during transit - The top fin broke off. However the other fish is in perfect, immaculate condition. Any ideas about their provenance? I'm assuming they are Murano.
First of all, welcome to CW! You inherited a couple of beautiful fish. I've seen very few red ones, so they're definitely special. A majority of these were made by two designers; Flavio Poli for Seguso Verti D' Arte (SVDA) and Alfredo Barbini. There are a few others, but these two are the ones you typically see. Yours were made by Flavio Poli for SVDA. There are subtle differences between the two, but the easiest to point out, based on the photos, is the treatment of the fins. http://postimg.org/gallery/nule1j5o In pic 1 and 3 (Barbini), notice how the top fin is almost flat, but in pic 2 - which is by Poli - the fin is rounded. The last pic is an example of both that I posted here at CW showing the Barbini on the left and the Poli on the right. Here you have a good side by side comparison. Using the double fish an example of differentiating the two designers, you'll notice that on the Poli examples, one of the two fish has a single eel-like fin, whereas on the Barbini, both fish have a double tail fin. In the Carl Gables book "Murano Magic", there is a documented example of the Poli fish, so we have a definite attribution, and my blue one - in the last pic - has a label, so there's no question about that either, so we are easily able to identify yours. Although these are usually identified as Bullicante, in the Gable book the decor is identified as "Fish in Sommerso a Bollicine (little bubbles)". I hope this helped.
Thank you SO much Rick. How fortunate that I should see your posts. Very grateful for your insights!
Your welcome Quizzical, I'm glad I could help.