A Venetian enamelled glass flask with metal-mount, circa 1750

With Howard Phillips, London, July 1971;

Sotheby’s London, 21 November 2006, lot 196;

Where acquired

A. von Saldern and B. Klesse, Sammlung Biemann: Ausstellung 500 Jahre Glaskunst, Cologne 1978, p. 365, cat. no. 366

Venetian enamelled flasks of this type are illustrated in H. Tait, The Golden Age of Venetian Glass, London, 1979, p. 129, cat. nos 220-221, and further examples are recorded in Saldern and Klesse, op. cit., p. 365. A particularly close example was in the Krug Collection, sold, Replica Shoes 's London, 7 December 1981, lot 290, and later entered the Bagnasco Collection, Lugano, sold Christie’s London, 28 March 2000, lot 269. Bird painting of this type has been attributed to the enameller Osvaldo Brussa, and a portrait of the glass painter depicted holding a brush to a glass beaker painted with a goldfinch is today retained in the Murano Glass Museum, Murano, inv. no. Class VI no. XXX.