“It's unlikely I will be able to organize another auction featuring such an extraordinary collection of glass again. After nearly ten years of catalogues dedicated exclusively to Murano glass with Cambi Auction House, I am truly proud to present this sale, which will take place in Milan on April 14.

From a private collection belonging to the heirs of the painter Renato Tomassi, I am presenting a group of works by one of the most precious and rare artists of the Italian 20th century: a ceramic piece, a leaded glass ornament, and above all three extraordinary vases created by Hans Stoltenberg Lerche for the Fratelli Toso glassworks in the early 1910s.

From one of the most refined collectors in Turin—who lent several of her pieces to the first exhibition dedicated to 20th-century Italian glass held in Turin in 1984—comes a group of masterpieces such as the red glass paste succulent by Napoleone Martinuzzi, similar to the one already housed at the Vittoriale degli Italiani, and a very rare vase by Carlo Scarpa for Cappellin, hexagonal in shape, in a translucent pink color with gold leaf.

Also by the Venetian architect, and coming from another historic collection, there will be a large egg-shaped vase with relief decoration on a corroded surface, originally presented at the 20th Venice Biennale in 1936.

But Murano is not only Venini: by the great Flavio Poli, I will offer a vase and two extraordinary blue-ruby sommerso glass fish, which won a prize at the 11th Milan Triennale in 1957.

From the genius of Barovier, I am presenting one of his most famous works, of which only two examples are known: the large ‘Groviglio’ bowl in the version with a submerged black cord, exhibited at the 7th Milan Triennale in 1940 and at the Venice Biennale in the same year.

Also by Venini, and perhaps the most significant piece in the auction, is a very rare vase from the ‘Mosaico Multicolore’ series, decorated with tesserae of submerged polychrome canes. A similar vase from the same series was sold in my first auction in 2016 for €200,000.

From Paris come some of the most celebrated glass works by Fulvio Bianconi, from the collection of Ambassador Gérard Gaussen, former honorary president of the French Committee for the Safeguarding of Venice.

The auction concludes with a collection of international artists, not produced in Murano, assembled by the gallerist Louise Berndt since 1997, together with several sculptural works by her husband, the master glassmaker Loredano Rosin.”

— Marco Arosio, Director of the 20th-Century Decorative Arts and Murano Glass Department