Large vase Alfredo Barbini 'double incalmo', Venice around 1968

Large heavy glass vase made and designed by Alfredo Barbini around 1968. Thick transparent glass, blue, yellow, and black fused using the incalmo technique. Signed with the engraving 'A. Barbini' on the lower edge. This sculptural vase is an authentic piece of 20th-century Murano glass art and one of the most famous models by Alfredo Barbini. Alfredo Barbini (1912–2007) attended the Abate Zanetti glass design school from the age of ten and later worked for S.A.I.A.R. Ferro Toso, Cristalleria di Murano, and Zecchin-Martinuzzi glassworks. In the early 1930s, he became a master glassmaker at V.A.M.S.A. He created works designed by the painter Luigi Scarpa Croce, such as the fish plate exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1942. In 1946, he joined Gino Cenedese & C as a partner and director. At the 1948 Biennale, he presented a remarkable series of acid-corroded surface sculptures: "Collasso, " "Putto, " "Diana Nera." In 1950, he founded his own workshop, the Vetreria Alfredo Barbini. Several of his creations — including the Sasso, Scavo, Inciso, Sommerso pieces, and the Ad Agnelli objects — are among the most significant contributions to Murano glass art. Bibliographic reference: Marc Heiremans, Art Glass from Murano 1910-1970, Stuttgart 1993, page 33.