SIGNED AND DATED ON A RED AND WHITE SINGLE CANE 'PB 1846' AND PARTIALLY ON TWO FURTHER CANES

Details

A PIETRO BIGAGLIA SIGNED AND DATED SCATTERED MILLEFIORI WEIGHT*
SIGNED AND DATED ON A RED AND WHITE SINGLE CANE 'PB 1846' AND PARTIALLY ON TWO FURTHER CANES
The clear glass set with approximately forty silhouette canes, probably by Giacomo Franchini including the Commedia dell'Arte figures Harlequin and Pantalone, a crescent moon with a face, a rose bush, a wheel, a gondola, a seated lion, a horse, a dog, an Austrian imperial eagle and further birds among others, above swirls of gold aventurine and twisted colourful ribbons
3 1/8 in. (8 cm.) diameter; 2 in. (5.1 cm.) high

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve. This lot is exempt from Sales Tax.

Lot Essay

Compare L.H. Selman Ltd., Santa Cruz, 13 October 2000, lots 55 and 56; Also see the article by Albert Christian Revi, Miniature Portraits in Glass Rods, Bulletin of the Paperweight Collector's Association, Inc., June 1958 for a discussion on the collaboration of Giacomo Franchini and Pietro Bagaglia; and See Paul Hollister, The Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights, New York, 1969, p. 19 and 20, fig. 4 for a similarly dated weight.

It is interesting to note that Bigaglia paperweights were listed in the Austrian section of several of the Great Exhibitions of the day as Venice was still part of Austria-Hungary until it was reunited with the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. The current weight has a central Imperial eagle cane partially bearing the initials FI (for Ferdinand Imperator 1835-48).

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