
John Sandon
Consultant
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£5,000 - £8,000
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Consultant
Provenance:
The property of an Italian Noblewoman
Venetian glass nefs are traditionally said to have been first made in Murano by Ermonia Vivarini from 1521. Georgius Agricola described a vessel in the form of a ship in his De re metallica published in Basel in 1556, probably referring to examples made in other parts of Europe a la façon de Venise. Related examples in published collections include specimens in the British Museum (1855,1201.197), the Corning Museum of Glass (2009.3.8), the Milwaukee Art Museum (M1988.135), the Museo Vetrario Murano (cl.VI, n.554), the Museum of Applied Arts, Prague, and the Bayerischen Nationalmuseum Munich (G525 no.48). The rigging on the present example probably supported a whistle in the shape of a fish or a horn.