I opened the kitchen cupboard of the home where we acquired this piece and let out a little squeal. It is another wonderful Murano glass piece from a highly regarded estate here in Topeka. There is no mistaking this Incalmo glass bottle as the work of Gio Ponti for Venini. It has the typical long slender neck and the cone-shaped stopper. Not to mention the two-tone opaque and clear incalmo process. The shape of this bottle is illustrated in Venini: Catalog Raisonne 1921-1986.
Gio Ponti 1891-1979 was interested in the arts from early childhood and excelled at painting. He eventually became an architect in 1921 after the war had intervened and his education was postponed. By the 1950s he had gained international fame with the design of the Pirelli Tower in Milan. In 1946 Ponti designed several series for Venini, becoming their first designer after WWII. Although his work is not well documented and for the most part very rare, his spiral bottles are famous.
What’s the best combination of an antiques dealer and a lawyer? When its Giacomo Cappellin and Paolo Venini in 1926 when they partnered to form the MVM Cappellin & C glassworks and changed the course of Murano glass. They dissolved their partnership in 1925 with Paolo Venini founding his own company. Venini personally managed his company until his death in 1959. Many great glass designers, including Venini himself as well as Gio Ponti, have made Venini & C. a name to be reckoned with in the Murano glass world particularly from 1948 until 1965.
This small but mighty bottle should not be passed. You need it in your life. Make it yours.
