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Murano and Sommerso glass

 

These freeform coloured glass bowls have always caught my eye in second hand shops. I saw one recently for £3.50. I've since learned it is a style of Murano glass and from the Italian island of Murano (hard to say for sure with each piece without a makers mark). The specific style I am drawn to is know as 'sommerso' meaning submerged in Italian. The name is due to the technique of layering glass of multiple colours which gives the impression of a colour 'submerged' underneath another.

 

I decided not to pick up the first piece I saw, having walked the city a while I actually went back for it but it was gone. Within the week the same thing happened with another piece, more of a teal colour and a more aggressive splash design. This time £3, I was indecisive and again came back and it was gone. Today I actively searched for these pieces heading home from the library and actually found one! £4.50 but I was willing to pay the £1.50 premium this time.

 

 

A very simple yet elegant design, I think I prefer the simpler flowing shapes rather than the overly complex or colourful.

 

 

You can see it glows under a UV light, I think this suggests it is vintage since uranium oxide was used to colour glass green up until around the 1960s-70s, the clear part actually has a slight green tint but its hard to see under natural light and on camera. Uranium glass is actually radioactive slightly above background levels but negligible for the most part. If I pick up a few uranium pieces I might splash out and pick up a Geiger counter to see how radioactive they are. I'm not saying this is the start of a(nother) collection but I will definitely keep an eye out for sommerso glass in the future!