Ercole Barovier "Rostrato" Murano Glass Vase | Barovier&Toso

A sculptural Murano glass vase worked in the distinctive rostrato technique—developed, patented, and showcased at the Biennale in 1938 by master designer Ercole Barovier. This piece comes from Barovier&Toso, a family business that stands as one of the oldest in the world with a 700-year history of glassmaking.

Rostrato — from the Italian rostro, referring to a beak or pointed projection — became one of Ercole Barovier’s most distinctive experiments in glass. Rising from a circular foot at a substantial 1.81 kg, the heavy transparent glass features a softly warm cream cast rather than a bright colorless clarity, narrowing through the body before opening into an irregular, dramatically flared rim. Across the surface, the molten glass has been pulled outward into dense points, folds, and ridges, giving the vessel an almost crystalline quality that catches and refracts light along every projection and edge.

This 22 cm example corresponds directly in form, execution, and glass composition to documented Rostrato models circa 1940 (such as the 27.7 cm variant sold at Bonhams, Auction 26777, Lot 131). Unsigned, as is standard for period Murano works of this era, it retains its rough pontil mark to the base.

Nearly ninety years later, the piece remains extraordinary for the contrast between the delicacy of its transparent glass and the exuberance of its hand-worked surface, feeling at once organic, architectural, and remarkably modern.