Battuti, no. 3972

Between 1932 and 1947, Carlo Scarpa worked closely with Paolo Venini and other master glassblowers to pioneer techniques, silhouettes, and colors that thoroughly modernized the ancient traditions of the glass-making Venetian island Murano. New methods of surface decoration were invented and each vessel is named for the techniques employed in their making, emphasizing the fact that experimentation was crucial to producing such a dazzling array of visual and material effects.

Featuring the cold working technique of battuti, meaning beaten, this piece exhibits surface carving that Scarpa used in the early 1940s as a way to achieve a hammered-silver effect. The cuts are broad, relatively flat, and blanket the entire form. Applied via wheel engraving, the small, irregular parallel scratches mimic the appearance of beaten metal, a strong visual contrast to the fragile materiality of this translucent pastel-colored glass.