Rare Vintage set of 2 Alfredo Barbini Vamsa Murano Glass Mallard Duck Sculptures

Absolutely stunning murano art glass ducks made by A. Barbini for Vamsa.

The body is made of Venetian glass in lovely light green with blue head and reddish beak. Eyes are red. Ducks have red and green stripes through the body which are used in many Barbini pieces for example "Barbini aquarium vase".

This is one few amazing Alfredo Barbini's classic works created for VAMSA.

Please see all images of this amazing set.

 

Measures approximately

#1 11" long x 6.5" tall x 3.75" wide

Weighs 7.5 lbs

#2 10.75" long x 6.5" tall x 3.75" wide

Weighs 6.15 lbs

 

Excellent vintage condition. No chips or cracks.

 

Barbini History:Alfredo Barbini perfected the art of vetro sommerso (submersion), thick glass obtained by overlapping different colored layers. He set up his own glass factory in 1950, where he continues to work as designer. He was born in 1912 on the islands of Murano in the lagoon of Venice, Italy, was one of Murano's leading figures of the twentieth century. His parents were members of families which had been prominent in the glassmaking industry on Murano for generations as glassblowers and beadmakers.

 

Career

 

Barbini began his long career in 1925 at the age of 13, working in the S.A.I.A.R. Ferro Toso factory. In 1929 he joined Cristalleria di Venezia e Murano as a master glassblower. He left that firm in 1932 for employment with a glass workshop in Milan, but returned to Murano to work first at the newly-formed Zecchin & Martinuzzi firm and then with Seguso Vetri d'Arte. From 1936 to 1944 he was a partner and master glassblower at Societa Anonima Vetri Artistici Murano, known as S.A.V.A.M.Following World War II Barbini worked as master glassblower and designer successively with Archimede Seguso and Napoleone Martinuzzi, then became a partner with Vetreria Vistosi and, later, Gino Cenedese. With financial assistance from the firm of Salviati & C., for whom he produced products, he formed in 1950 his own glass firm, Vetreria Alfredo Barbini (reorganized in 1983 as Alfredo Barbini Srl). His firm exhibited his work at the Venice Biennales from 1950 to 1968.

 

Awards

 

Among numerous other honors, Barbini was awarded the "Osella d'Oro" by Venice's Associazione degli Industriale and the honorary title "Commendatore" and was named "1989 Venetian of the Year" by the Settimare Association.

 

Vamsa History:

The factory was founded in 1925 under the name of Augusto Hreglivh S.A.V.A.M. (Societa Anonima Vetri Murano Artistici) and produced glass in the classic style.

 

In 1936, the company was renamed into V.A.M.S.A. (Vetreria Artistica Muranese Societa Anonima). Alfredo Barbini was one of the partners and the master blower. Later Barbini worked as a master with Napoleone Martinuzzi, in the manufacture Zecchin-Martinuzzi. Extremely thick-walled glass with the inclusion of air bubbles, powdered metal or other decorative shapes were characteristic for these objects.

 

In the product lines, there are two main trends. On the one hand, the Sommerso and Novecento series, which was shown at the Venice Biennale in 1938, on the other hand sculptures with naturalistic elements.

 

The Biennale of 1942 presented objects, which had been created under the artistic direction of Ermenegildo Ripa and the painter Luigi Scarpa Croce. The company closed in 1945.

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