A very rare Venetian opalescent glass vase, circa 1700

Footnotes

Provenance
Lady 'Lili' Maria Elisabeth Augusta Cartwright (née von Sandizell)
Thence by descent to her son, William Cornwallis Cartwright, Aynhoe Park, Oxfordshire
Thence by family descent to the present owner

Vases of this form are very rare and whilst they are recorded in several important collections this would appear to be the only known example in opal glass. A vase of similar form in clear glass with diamond-point decoration is illustrated by Anna-Elisabeth Theuerkauff-Liederwald, Venezianisches Glas der Veste Coburg (1994), p.510-11, no.645, and another in clear glass with damaged handles is in the Museo del Vetro di Murano (accession no. Cl.VI n.01690). The curled handles on both of these vases closely resemble those on the present lot and Theuerkauff-Liederwald notes that their form is unusual.

Two vases of comparable shape applied with flowers are in the Danish Royal collection at Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen. They include 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. Another latticinio example 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 (accession no. Cl.VI n.02034). The handles of all of these examples differ from those on the present lot.

This vase has very close parallels to small spouted ewers in opal glass, notably the double ogee form, the knop between collars and the use of vermicular trailing around the neck. Only five such ewers appear to be recorded, including two in the Museo Nazionale di San Martino, Naples, illustrated by Barovier Mentasti et al. (1982), pp.164-5, nos.254a and 254b, one in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin (accession no. K 132), illustrated by Franz Dreier, Venezianische Gläser (1989), p.85, no.69, one in the Musée Ariana in Geneva, illustrated by Erwin Baumgartner, Reflets de Venise (2015), pp.203-4, no.96 and one at Veste Coburg, illustrated by Anna-Elisabeth Theuerkauff-Liederwald (1994), p.406, no.442.

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