Description
Beautiful art ashtray hand-made in Murano, Italy in the 1950’s to 1960’s.
Blown in sommerso using smoked red and colorless glass. The thick quality vintage glass colors blown together create a mesmerizing effect with undulating reflections.
The red glass has a smoky or burnt hue. A manly red. The colorless glass contains manganese, a mineral used to replace lead during the first World War. The use of Manganese continued into the 1950s by the Italians and some American makers. One can spot glass made during this period by placing it under a black-light. The Manganese will produce a glow of light green from the colorless glass.
Back in the day when smoking was glamorous glassmakers designed multi-use bowls. This bowl was made to rest cigars and pipes, but can be used for several purposes; flowers, catch-all, candy dish, candleholder, etc.
Measures 7½” at longest, 4¼” at widest and 3″ tall. Cigar shown is 5½” long. Deep bowl to catch and retain the debris. Base is polished flat.
Weighs 2 lbs. In excellent condition with a few small trapped bubbles within the glass commonly seen on hand-blown objects.
https://retroartglass.com/glass-makers-companies-and-regions/italian-glass-venetian-murano/
