bowl/ashtray

[Jeanine]

Here is the piece of Murano that got me started. It has no stickers. It was purchased at an antique shop. We were told there that it was Murano. It has a rough pontil mark on the side. It looks like it is encased in possibly crystal? Odd piece but beautiful just the same. What is it? What is it worth?

[glassman]

Hi. I would think its Murano, as the bird and bowl is a popular theme...
As far as who has made it, It hard to venture a guess, although the colors and style are unique.

[Jeanine]

Unique to say the least Alex. I have seen this same bowl in a blue and white with a totally different colored Rooster attached. The Bird and the bowl having the exact same colors I have not seen. Thanks for your comments. I really would like to try and find the maker.
Jeanine:

[TxSilver]

What a beautiful piece! The glass reminds me of chalcedony (striated quartz rock that makes agate beautiful). There is a picture of a Salviati decanter at http://www.boglewood.com/murano/history.html that has colorful chalcedony. Do you think this is what it could be? The decanter that I am referring to is half way down the page.

Anita

[Jeanine]

Thank You TxSilver for your reply. I looked at the chalcedonay decanter. I tried to enlarge to get a better look. It does seem similiar, but without a closer look I couldn't be sure.Thank you for pointing me in this direction. It's worth looking into for the piece and the education.
Jeanine

[Jeanine]

Thank You Anita,
I went looking for other chalcedonay pics and found one that has the types of colors as my piece I believe you may be right I found it on http://www.rossellajunck.it/venice_murano_glass/dett.asp?name=calcedonioradi&lingua=uk. Thank you so much for the education. Now to find who made it.
Jeanine

[TxSilver]

There are a couple of companies that did chalcedony that I know of. Barovier and Salviati worked with it. The pieces I've seen by Barovier were earth-toned, but I haven't seen a large sample of their work. Salviati worked with colors, but again I've not seen a large sample. It is a beautiful ashtray and bird. I love the colors. The cuts on the "petals" of the bowl make me wonder if it may be Salviati. I've not seen a similar piece, so I don't know. I hope you can find the answer.

Anita

[TxSilver]

Something else I thought I should add because I don't know if it is chalcedony. It may also be cased satin glass. Sometimes it looks like chalcedony to me. If the chalcedony doesn't give any clues, maybe satin glass will. I hope we get some other opinions from the group.

Anita

[Jeanine]

Anita I don't believe it is satin glass at all. The colors change in different lights. I am not saying that it is radiated just that as light hits it, it will go from the green to the orange to the blues. There seems to be a thick layer of blue glass which shows up under strong light. The flash picked up on the yellows and orange. With no direct light it appears to be a dark green. The last layer is definitely clear. Whether it is cristalo or clear glass I don't know. The majority of the birds wings are clear. The body of the bird seems to be in stripes and the tail is clear with coloring similiar to the bowl. If I didn't say so already it is verrrrrrrrry heavy for such a small piece . I guess I should wiegh it and measure it. Thanks again

[drabkin]

I like the bird and bowl!
If my memory serves me correctly, ive seen a similar shaped bowl, (without a bird), made by Barovier and Toso, but not chalcedonay. I've recently seen a chalcedonay sculpture, dont remember where, but I will try to find more info out about the bowl and sculpture if I can.

[Jeanine]

The same shape I have seen once. I saw it in an antique shop and it did have a bird. Narrowing down the shape would be a great help in finding out about this piece. Thanks Drabkin. I must say, this has got to be one of the friendliest groups I have come across.
Jeanine