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Exquisite Glass Ornaments THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY MURANO GLASS REVIVAL IN THE DE BOOS-SMITH COLLECTION EDITED BY ROSA BAROVIER MENTASTI A trip through the history of glassmaking and the rediscovery of an ancient art form. This premier publication from the vast and variegated de Boos-Smith Collection offers a comprehensive and fascinating view of nineteenth-century Murano glass production, from filigree to millefiori, from aventurine to chalcedony. The different techniques highlighted allow a better understanding of how ancient works were revived by Venetian glassmakers after the deep crisis suffered by the glass industry after the fall of the Serenissima Republic. The 250 pieces come mainly from the English market of the period. They were bought by Fiorella and Phillip de Boos-Smith, Londoners of Australian background, and make up a collection that is emblematic of the typically nineteenth-century English taste for color, creativity, and technical expertise, at times taken to the verge of kitsch. Rosa Barovier Mentasti descends from one of the oldest glass-manufacturing families in Murano (Venice). She studied the history of glass at Padua University and has taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and at the Abate Zanetti School of Glass in Murano. One of the leading glass historians in the world, she published Il vetro veneziano dal Medioevo a oggi and Vetro veneziano 1890-1990, and curated exhibitions such as: Venezia aperto vetro: International New Glass (Venice, 1998), Tapio Wirkkala: Eye, Hand and Thought (Helsinki, 2000), and Vetro veneziano (Taiwan, 2003).
DECORATIVE ARTS 144 pages, 95 x 115� 100 color illustrations HC: 978-88-317-0650-6 $39.95 Can: $ 46.00 UK: £25.00 January 25, 2011 Rights:World MARSILIO