Landmark Single-Owner Venini Glass Collection Comes to Auction at Roseberys

Auction date: Tuesday 18 February, 10AM GMT 

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A collection of Venini glassware leads Roseberys’ first Design auction of the year. The collection is one of the most comprehensive single owner collections to come to the UK market in recent years. It has been in a private collection for over twenty years. 

The Italian glassmaker, based on the Venetian island of Murano, was a significant producer of glassware in the twentieth century, reinventing local tradition to create designs with a wholly modern sensibility.

The collection is highlighted by a rare 'Faraona' (guinea fowl), circa 1964 by Toni Zuccheri (1937-2008). Toni, the son of the animalist artist Luigi Zuccheri, inherited his father's love of animals, which frequently appear as central themes in his own artwork. A similar example is held in the permanent collection at the V&A. 

A group of Commedia dell’Arte figures by influential Venini collaborator Fulvio Bianconi rounds out the collection. From 1947-1950, Bianconi designed numerous series of sculptural objects and vessels including the Commedia dell'Arte figures and Pezzati (patchwork) vessels, both of which have become icons of post-war Italian design. 

A pair of early 1960s 'Archellino' & 'Archellina' figures from the Maschere series, originally designed in 1948, are expected to attract significant interest. Made in lattimo glass with polychrome decorations, the chromatic brilliance of the pair makes them particularly desirable to collectors.

Further highlights from the 20th century section of the sale include a desk designed by Pierre Jeanneret for the Administrative buildings of Chandigarh, the Modernist North Indian city developed by Le Corbusier, Jeanneret’s cousin and collaborator. A unique and early ‘Flinstone’ bench by Fernando & Humberto Campana is expected to attract significant interest. 

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For media enquiries please contact: aliciaglenn@roseberys.co.uk

Operating in London for more than 30 years, Roseberys Fine Art Auctioneers is a privately owned specialist fine art and antiques auction house and valuers, located in the heart of South London.

The team of world renowned experts and consultants offer both buyers and sellers a range of specialist art market services and a calendar of over 30 specialist auctions a year covering all areas of Asian Arts, Islamic & Indian Art, Jewellery & Watches, Old Master, 18th & 19th Century Art, Modern British & Contemporary Art, Urban & Contemporary Prints & Multiples, 20th Century Art & Design, Impressionist, Modern, Post War & Contemporary Art and Decorative Arts, Fine & Decorative sales including Silver, Ceramics, Works of Art and Furniture.

In addition to hosting over 30 specialist auctions annually, Roseberys offers single-owner collection sales. Recent highlights include the Mary & Alan Hobart Collection (founders of Pyms Gallery), an Important Private Collection of Chinese Imperial Porcelain and The George Farrow Collection.