The Leaping Luminaria Fish Duo ✨🐠
🐠✨The Leaping Luminaria Fish Duo ✨🐠
These leaping fish sculptures belong to a wonderful chapter in Mid-Century Modern Art Glass, likely dating from the 1950s or 1960s.
🐠The Murano Mystique🐠
The style, with its vibrant internal colors and clear, sculptural base, is heavily inspired by—or possibly even originated from—the master glassmakers on the island of Murano, near Venice. Murano glass is world-famous for techniques like Sommerso (Italian for "submerged"), where layers of different coloured glass are encased in a final layer of clear, heavy crystal. This is what gives the fish their incredible depth and that wonderful watery look!
🐠A Symbol of Good Fortune🐠
Beyond just being beautiful, fish in Murano glass often symbolize prosperity, good fortune, and abundance, making them a delightful piece of décor to welcome positive energy into your home.
🐠The Go-To Glamour🐠
During the MCM era, colorful art glass objects, particularly those from or inspired by Murano, were the height of sophisticated, playful home décor. They were the perfect accessory to add a vibrant, international flair to a chic living room.
🐠The Body🐠
A fiery marvel! Their forms are awash in a dramatic, graduating blend of rich ruby red that melts into a sun-kissed, vibrant orange. This dramatic colour transition is a hallmark of skilled glass artistry, making them look perpetually kissed by a setting sun.
🐠The Pedestal🐠
They stand aloft on a clear, fluted pedestal—a towering throne of brilliant, heavy crystal. It provides a stunning counterpoint to the bold colors above, suggesting the fish is majestically cresting a perfect wave.
🐠The Personality🐠
They have a wonderful, stylized profile—a streamlined body, delicate trailing dorsal and pectoral fins, and a high, proud tail. They embody the very spirit of the sea: fluid, elegant, and utterly eye-catching.
💡The Marvel of the Glow (The UV Secret!)💡
The absolute best part about this duo is their secret power: they glow under UV light! This mesmerizing phenomenon is the cherry on top of their vintage charm.
💡The Magical Ingredient💡
The brilliant red and orange colours contain a tiny, special helper: trace elements like Selenium & Cadmium (sometimes used with sulfur) added to the glass formula to achieve those intense, vivid hues.
💡The Science of Sparkle💡
When the UV (black) light hits the glass, these additives absorb the ultraviolet energy and immediately re-emit it as a visible, ethereal glow (a process called fluorescence). While the red and orange colours themselves are achieved with these elements, the process can sometimes cause the clear glass, to fluoresce a dramatic, magical-looking yellow & orange.
These are hand blown pieces. They have bubbles and toolmarks from the artist during creation.
All items are in vintage and antique preloved condition. Some minor surface scratches may be present. I do my best to note and photograph any wear. Please contact me with any further questions :)