Explore the Art of the Past

Large and elegant Murano glass floor lamp, emblematic of the exceptional craftsmanship of mid-twentieth-century Venetian glassworks (in the taste of the creations of Barovier & Toso or Archimede Seguso).

• The Shaft : The slender central shaft is composed of an alternating stack of balusters and geometric elements in ribbed and bubbled clear glass, alternating with elements in glass with gold inclusions, offering a superb visual contrast and beautifully capturing the light.
• The Base: The whole rests on a circular base in moulded metal, formerly gilded. The gilding, partially faded by time, today reveals a lovely dark brown patina with traces of gilt.
• The Shade : It is surmounted by a large shade in ecru/greige fabric, bordered with a black braid highlighted by a gold piping with a twisted passementerie button detail, ensuring a soft and warm diffusion of light.
• Excellent state of preservation. No cracks, chips or nicks on any of the glass elements.
• Electrical wiring entirely renewed to current standards (twisted silk-effect textile cable in gold/brass, foot switch and standard bulb holder). Ready to be installed.

Italy, circa 1940-1950

After Georges Braque (1882–1963), Astéria.

A very fine embossed print, gilded with 23-carat fine gold, produced after a creation by Georges Braque by Baron Heger de Löwenfeld, the artist’s collaborator in the realisation of his celebrated jewellery.

The work belongs to the suite “Hommage aux bijoux de Braque”, devoted to the jewellery creations conceived by Georges Braque at the end of his life and transposed in relief by Heger de Löwenfeld.

On thick, deckle-edged paper, the composition is treated in deep embossing: the motif, entirely gilded in fine gold, genuinely stands out from the sheet, lending it an almost sculptural character.

The subject, Astéria, belongs to the mythological repertoire so dear to Braque in the final years of his oeuvre. The figure is reduced to an ensemble of powerful, pared-down lines, midway between drawing, sculpture and jewel.

Example numbered 186/200 in pencil.

Signature of Heger de Löwenfeld in pencil, lower left.

“G. Braque” signature in relief / blind stamp within the sheet.

Numerous blind-stamped inscriptions in the paper:

“ASTERIA”; “Or fin 23 carats”; “Hommage aux bijoux de Braque”; “Sculpt. Heger de Löwenfeld”

Edition produced circa 1970–1971.

Examples from this suite are notably documented with the publisher Pierre de Tartas in Paris.

Presented in an elegant bespoke museum-quality frame under glass, the subject set on a raised mount, with anti-reflective and anti-UV glass. Oak borders.

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Gilt bronze candlestick signed Casenove, foundry mark Fondica, dated 94 (1994).

In perfect condition.

Italian floor lamp signed Barovier & Toso, Murano, with original label preserved  (Barovier & Toso lozenge logo + certification label “Vetri Murano VM 007”, label of the Consorzio Venezia Vetro used between 1981 and the early 2000s).

The conical shade in blown opaline glass, with the granular texture characteristic of Venetian work, is adorned with a frieze of waves acid-etched on its lower third, drawing upon techniques and a decorative vocabulary inherited from the great years of Venetian glassmaking. It rests upon a sphere of colourless Murano glass, blown and cut with twisted ribs, which closes it onto the brass stem — a torchère-type floor lamp, the light being diffused upwards through the glass.

The shaft, in brass, descends to a circular base in white lacquered metal. Original foot dimmer.

Good general condition consistent with use. The lacquered base shows visible marks of use and micro-scratches (see photographs), without any effect on the structure or the functioning.
Glass and crystal sphere intact, without chip or crack.

Original electrics in working order.

Origin: Italy, Murano — Barovier & Toso, circa 1980.

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