Origins of Murano Glass

Production of Murano glassware became a regulated form of craftsmanship in Venice in the 13th century, but it has been a part of broader Italian culture since early Roman times. The earliest glass in the area is dated to the sixth century A.D. and is attributed by some scholars to historical figures fleeing Barbarians. Others believe glass came to the area through trade with the Middle East and Syria, two places with ancient glass traditions.

Murano is not a single island but rather a series of islands in the Venetian Lagoon collectively called Murano. In all, there are seven islands connected by bridges that make up the commune of Murano. Collectors can find exceptional glass throughout Venice, which became the central area for Italian glass production when the government enacted regulations throughout the 13th century. You can find many important makers, historic kilns, artists, and dealers in Murano as well.

Murano itself is widely regarded as the place to find valuable originals and editioned pieces with the certificates of authenticity and provenance every collector needs. While purchasing glass on Murano Island is an exciting experience, you can also find exceptional pieces in galleries, dealerships, or artist-owned showrooms throughout the lagoon. Murano Glass is highly collectible and can add significant value to art collections held by individuals, museums, family funds, businesses, financial institutions, libraries, and more. 

 

Evolution of Murano Glass: From Simple to Intricate Designs

Murano Glass has a long tradition that includes pieces made in a wide array of designs, shapes, and glass types. Among pieces that are based on ancient designs, there are pitchers and carafes with a bulkier bottom and a graceful spout or rim with a relatively small foot, proportions that hearken to Roman times. Collectors will also find pieces with a more modern design aesthetic and fairly abstract elements like edges and rims that are not completely rounded off or even heavily ruffled and folded.

Beads, mirrors, bottles, and vials are among the other original items made at the earliest glass shops. Figurines of people, traditional characters and legends, animals, goblets, ornaments, and abstract sculptures in many styles have been crafted on Murano Island for centuries and are still in production today.

Regulations created by the government, along with agreements and trade rules enforced by established trade professionals, ensured that Venetian glass-making processes remained secret. Many workers could not easily leave the lagoon, if at all, or take jobs elsewhere once they worked in a glass-making workshop. The rising risk of major fires throughout crowded Italian cities motivated the government to move so many kilns to the Venetian lagoon.

 

Murano Glass Provenance and Collectability

 

Collectors should note that many artisans did not sign their pieces until the 20th century; most early forged signatures and shop marks are easy to catch. More recent forged signatures may be harder to identify if they were created using a modern engraving device. However, if you do have a piece with a signature of the glass blower, depending on the provenance, it is likely to be authentic.

The early travel and trade-restricted environment of the Renaissance through the seventeenth century protected the art tradition in many workshops and had a unique impact on labor law and production. The lasting effects of these laws and regulations have contributed to the highly collectible nature of the glass and the notably unique aesthetic of historic kilns in the area. 

Authenticity is always essential for investors. While it is sometimes difficult to authenticate contemporary Murano glassware, it is much easier to recognize authentic pieces from the mid-twentieth century and prior. Especially for the pieces crafted centuries ago, authenticity was not a concern due to the early secrecy of the craft, which ensured that it was too difficult to craft convincing forgeries. 

The major move of the glass shops to Venice coincided with a rise in the production of both functional and decorative pieces for wealthy customers, including merchants and nobility. Designers and artists began to produce chandeliers made with floral elements and pronounced curls that have helped define Italian style. Collectors will notice definitively clear glass in some bodies of work and a resurgence in demand for clear material for pieces made in the 16th and 17th centuries. 

Other major glass types produced in the area are covered in small florals or concentric abstract designs of mixed clarity and color, glass made with significant amounts of filigree with striped sections throughout, multiple colorful layers embedded in a clear layer, and milkier glass types.

Famous Murano Glass Artists and Pieces

Murano Glass art has its famous personalities just like any other art form. Some of them became famous due to pioneering new glass-making methods or coming up with different types of glassware such as the invention of Murano mirrors or chandeliers. Others were artists in a more modern sense of the word, channeling the existing art movements into glassware or redefining art ideas to implement them in glass. Many world-famous museums and important private collections hold especially interesting art glass pieces by Venetian artists, and some have pieces from as far back as the 15th or 16th century crafted on Murano Island.

Giuseppe Briati (1686 – 1772)

was a master who worked in the 18th century on highly ornate chandeliers that had florals, curls, and pendants. He is one of Murano’s most influential figures and is credited with helping expand the glass tradition in Venice and make it famous beyond the Venetian Republic. His chandeliers were popular for their quality, design, and relative lightness when compared with heavy traditional wrought iron chandeliers and even Bohemian chandeliers made in other places. The soda-lime mix in Venetian glass helped make these popular chandeliers so much lighter than ones made elsewhere.

His chandeliers are among the most sought-after examples of Murano glassware in high-value collections to this day.

Ercole Barovier (1889 – 1974) 

Barovier was a prolific artist, designer, and artistic director who was born into a family steeped in the Venetian glass tradition. The Barovier family’s glass workshops date to the 13th century and Ercole contributed an enormous amount of thought leadership to the world of art glass. He pioneered techniques for working in milkier glass types and methods for creating layers within glass pieces without fusing each application.

Paolo Venini (1895 – 1959) 

Venini was originally a lawyer who became a major visionary and a glass workshop owner known for innovation. He expanded the visibility of Murano glassware internationally and is known for creating a wide range of pieces in various styles, including chandeliers and vases.

Carlo Scarpa (1906 – 1978) 

Carlo Scarpa was an architect and designer who made major contributions to glass by bringing attention to new techniques, avant-garde design ideas, and new types of work with old methods. He is known for outstanding attention to detail, thought leadership, the development of a technique that utilizes bubbles as part of the surface design, and his work with Venini.

Other Famous Artists

High-value pieces in today’s collections include anything by by these masters as well as other famous names in Murano Glassware art such as Lino Tagliapietra, Archimede Seguso, Alfredo Barbini, Fratelli Toso, Simone Cenedese, Napoleone Martinuzzi and many others.

 

Important Murano Glassware Collections and Museums

Besides the Murano Glass Museum (called “Museo del Vetro” in Italian) located directly on Murano Island, many museums around the world can boast of unique Murano Glass art creations. Among them, The Louvre, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Smithsonian American Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Rijksmuseum, and Museo Correr house some of the most notable collections of Murano pieces as well as ancient Roman glass.

 

Why Murano Glass Is a Good Investment

Murano Glass is a great investment because so many pieces are either limited edition or unique and because of the rich artistic tradition of Italian blown glass. 

To craft Venetian glass, the artisans use traditional methods requiring careful and elaborate workmanship to create the forms and colors that range from beautiful flora-inspired designs to bold avant-garde pieces. The production of raw glass with unique colors and finishes combined with continuous innovation that has gone on for centuries allows for the creation of true art masterpieces that gain value with time. 

The quality and passion that went into each piece combined with interesting artistic ideas are valuable for collectors everywhere who want to collect pieces marked by strong historical references, evolving art movements, unique designs, and vibrant colors.