A very rare Venetian or façon de Venise engraved vase, circa 1700

In clear glass, the double ogee form with a flared neck with a trailed vermicular collar and folded at the rim, decorated in diamond-point to the neck and body with sprays of three stylised flowers to both sides, applied ribbed hollow scrolled handles with pincered ornament in clear glass, set on a hollow globular knop between collars, on a spreading foot further engraved with two floral sprays and neatly folded at the rim, 28cm high

Provenance
Property of a Nobleman, Sotheby's sale, 7 March 1977, lot 198
Private British Collection

Vases of this form are very rare and are recorded in several important collections. The style of the engraving has a number of parallels with other engraved examples of Venetian and façon de Venise glass from the 17th century. A very similar vase with curled handles in clear glass and with comparable diamond-point decoration is illustrated by Anna-Elisabeth Theuerkauff-Liederwald, Venezianisches Glas der Veste Coburg (1994), pp.510-11, no.645 and another is in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan (inv. no.1254).

Two vases of comparable shape applied with flowers are in the Danish Royal collection at Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen. These comprise an example in clear glass containing a lampwork flower bouquet and another in latticinio, both illustrated by Gudmund Boesen, Venetianske Glas på Rosenborg (1960), nos.19 and 50, the former with similar handles to the present lot. Another latticinio example also with similar handles is in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Cologne, illustrated by Brigitte Klesse in the catalogue, Glas (1963), p.96, no.181 and by Barovier Mentasti et al., Mille Anni di Arte del Vetro a Venezia (1982), p.146, no.215. See also the damaged clear glass example applied with turquoise lion masks in the Museo del Vetro di Murano (inv. no.Cl.VI n.02034). See also the apparently unique example in opalescent glass from the Lady Cartwright Collection sold by Bonhams on 29 September 2020, lot 17.

The form is closely related to large ewers or jugs in clear glass. Examples are in the Museo del Vetro di Murano (inv. nos.Cl.VI n.01294 and n.01425), in the British Museum (inv. no.S.505) illustrated by Hugh Tait, The Golden Age of Venetian Glass (1979), p.57, no.61, in the Rijksmuseum (inv. no.NM 8013) illustrated by Pieter Ritsema van Eck, Glass in the Rijksmuseum (1993), p.101, no.141, in Toledo Museum of Art (inv. no.1925.130) and at Rosenborg Castle illustrated by Boesen (1960), no.1. Compare also to the ewer with combed decoration at Rosenborg illustrated by Boesen (1960), no.88.