Vintage Murano Submerged Glass Ashtray by Antonio Da Ros, 1960s

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Measurements:
height: 4.7 cm; diameter: 20 cm; weight: 2.226 kg

item :
a splendid and monumental artistic ashtray in solid … Read more Measurements:
height: 4.7 cm; diameter: 20 cm; weight: 2.226 kg

item :
a splendid and monumental artistic ashtray in solid murano glass, a superb expression of avant-garde mid-century design and venetian glass sculpture from the second half of the 20th century. On the outer edge, the piece retains the original period transparent film label with the metallic blue wording "made in italy / murano glass," a precious documentary detail certifying the piece's historicity and authenticity within the high-end export channels of the period. The work is distinguished by a block of extraordinarily clear submerged glass, characterized by an impressive weight and structural thickness, sculpted freehand into a perfect circular shape with three elegant symmetrical recesses for resting cigarettes on the upper lip. The true technical and manufacturing peculiarity, which constitutes its greatest artistic value, lies in the complex cold-work performed entirely on the back of the piece. The lower base was subjected to an intense acid etching process and then carved with a grinding wheel to remove material, creating a dense and rigorous bas-relief motif of interwoven cords or ropes that mimics the geometric pattern of a tartan or plaid, symmetrically interspersed with four smooth ochre-colored elements shaped like a fan or stylized shell. A macroscopic examination of the decoration reveals the meticulous carving work: each individual cord is moved by extremely fine parallel grooves made with a wheel that simulate the natural twisting of the fiber, while the glass-like transparency of the cold-applied enamels in shades of deep cobalt blue and emerald green allows light to filter through the color. This refined "reverse" work exploits the sphericity and thickness of the crystal above it like a true optical lens: when viewed from the front, the geometric decoration underneath is magnificently amplified, fluctuating in transparency and changing its reflections depending on the angle of the light. The work is attributed to the cenedese artistic glassworks, specifically to the designer antonio da ros. The formal and technical reasons for this attribution lie in the unmistakable executive vocabulary developed by the gino cenedese glassworks between the 1960s and 1970s. The choice to pair a block of pure, monumental sommerso crystal with a complex geometric decoration entirely cold-carved on the reverse is the trademark of the celebrated "engraved glass" collections designed by artistic director antonio da ros. In particular, the stylization of the ropes and the four corner fans faithfully reflects the factory's archival drawings, where grinding was used not as a simple ornamental decoration, but as a sculptural tool to modify the refraction of light through the glass. Antonio da ros's stylistic mastery of cenedese is further confirmed by the use of cold-applied polychrome liquid enamel within the satin-finish engravings, an extremely sophisticated experimental technique that very few murano glassmakers of the time were capable of executing with such precision. This perfect convergence of the exterior geometric form, the cold-engraving technique, and the atelier's chromatic registers elevates the object from a simple functional element to a highly collectible display piece, extensively documented in the critical literature on 20th-century murano design. This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



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