Fratelli Toso

Leslie Pina writes in her book "Fratelli Toso - Italian Glass 1854 - 1980", "of all the leading Muranese glass factories, Fratelli Toso was among the most versatile ... but the least well-known. Where Venini, Barovier & Toso, Aureliano Toso, Archimede Seguso, Salviati, Cenedese, Barbini and others designed, produced AND marketed fabulous glass, Fratelli Toso focused on design and production".

Ermanno Toso designed for the company from 1924 through to and was artistic director from 1939 until his death in 1973. Lesley Jackson in "20th Century Factory Glass" says that one of Ermanno Toso's "specialties was the use of nero oxide to create a black background, often oxidised to produce a metallic finish - hence the name Nerox to describe this range. Some Nerox pieces were decorated with murrhines, others with larger, looser spots of colour..."

We sold the example below on Trade Me in November for around $500, which has to be a bargain.

Throughout this period, the factory continued to produce glass in traditional styles for export to the USA, and contemporary art glass for exhibition in Italy. Glen "Glass-fetish" Rossiter is a huge fan of this style of glass. Here's an example of a Fratelli Toso butterfly with the typical copper swirls.

Another example of the biomorphic Toso style, this time with a hypnotic lilac swirl. This one is listed on Trade Me as I write this. The auction will finish on Sunday 19 December.

Aside from their distinctive styles, many of the Fratelli Toso pieces are identifiable from the stickers used. The firm used a number of stickers, some of which were also used by other companies, but the blue and silver round sticker was used by Fratelli Toso alone. The butterfly above, for example, has one of these stickers.