VENDREDI 19 SEPTEMBRE 2025 
This Week in La Gazette Drouot : A Rare 15th-century Venetian Basin in Calcedonio Glass
T his late 15th-century Venetian basin adds a new dimension to our knowledge of calcedonio (in English chalcedony), a glass with changing reflections.
By Anne Doridou-Heim
Read the full version of "A Rare 15th-century Venetian Basin in Calcedonio Glass" in La Gazette Drouot
Read the full version of "A Rare 15th-century Venetian Basin in Calcedonio Glass" in La Gazette Drouot
In December 2024, for its first "Cabinet des merveilles" edition, the auction house already offered a formed piece in calcedonio marbled glass: an ewer - see Gazette 2024 n° 44, page 19 - which fetched the deserved score of €390,000.
Now, a basin, also from the late 15th century, in this remarkable glass imitating agate motifs, with a surface of shifting tones evoking the changing colors of the waters of the Venetian lagoon, will be presented at auction.
And last but not least, for expert Sylvie Lhermite-King, who held both glassworks in her hands and studied them at length, they formed an ensemble. "There's no doubt about it", she asserts, "the proportions match and, above all, the same quality of glass is found in both, exceptional for the strong presence of its blues".
While seven ewers are listed in public and private collections, only two other basins have survived: one, "less successful", is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, the other, beautiful but broken, in the Saxe-Coburg collections.
Now, a basin, also from the late 15th century, in this remarkable glass imitating agate motifs, with a surface of shifting tones evoking the changing colors of the waters of the Venetian lagoon, will be presented at auction.
And last but not least, for expert Sylvie Lhermite-King, who held both glassworks in her hands and studied them at length, they formed an ensemble. "There's no doubt about it", she asserts, "the proportions match and, above all, the same quality of glass is found in both, exceptional for the strong presence of its blues".
While seven ewers are listed in public and private collections, only two other basins have survived: one, "less successful", is in the Victoria & Albert Museum, the other, beautiful but broken, in the Saxe-Coburg collections.
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