Oriente vase by Dino Martens for Aureliano Toso c.1952, €16,500 (£14,100) at Aste di Antiquariato Boetto.
Both dated from the prime period in the early 1950s when Martens was working as artistic director for Venetian glassworks Aureliano Toso.
An 11½in (29cm) perforated vase from the Oriente range hammered for €16,500 (£14,100) against a guide of €4500-5000.
The result of many experiments in which Martens strived to fuse the borders between painting and blown glass, the Oriente technique (exhibited for the first time at the 1952 Biennale) was achieved by rolling a clear cylinder of glass over colourful, flat patterns comprising ground glass and aventurine, glass canes and latticino glass squares.
Martens’ great talent was to combine traditional Muranese techniques with daring asymmetric shapes.
Sommerso vase by Dino Martens for Aureliano Toso c.1954, €21,000 (£18,000) at Aste di Antiquariato Boetto.
Sold to a LiveAuctioneers bidder at €21,000 (£18,000), this time against a €3000-3400 estimate, was an 8in (20cm) Sommerso vase from 1954, one that effectively ‘submerged’ a vessel fashioned with polychrome cane decoration within a clear crystal casing.
The finished surface of the vase - cut with wavy vertical lines, represented several hours of highly skilled grinding.
The range was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1954.
