Lot Essay
Cf. The Harriet N. Smith Collection, Christie's, New York, 1 October 2004, lot 106; anon. sale, Christie's, London, 7 July 2005, lot 319; and L.H. Selman, Santa Cruz, 13 October 2000, lots 55 and 56 for other examples.
See also the article by Albert Christian Revi, 'Miniature Portraits in Glass Rods', The Annual Bulletin of the Paperweight Collectors Association, Inc., June 1958, for a discussion on the collaboration of Giacomo Franchini and Pietro Bagaglia; and Paul Hollister, The Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights, New York, 1969, pp. 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 then part of Austria-Hungary, until it was united with the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. The current lot encloses an Imperial eagle cane bearing the initials FI (Ferdinand Imperator). Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria reigned 1835-48.
See also the article by Albert Christian Revi, 'Miniature Portraits in Glass Rods', The Annual Bulletin of the Paperweight Collectors Association, Inc., June 1958, for a discussion on the collaboration of Giacomo Franchini and Pietro Bagaglia; and Paul Hollister, The Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights, New York, 1969, pp. 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 then part of Austria-Hungary, until it was united with the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. The current lot encloses an Imperial eagle cane bearing the initials FI (Ferdinand Imperator). Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria reigned 1835-48.