The Murano Maestri: A Collector's Guide

Article 1: Ermanno Nason — The Sculptor of the Avant-Garde

🔑 Artist Key: Ermanno Nason

• Full Name: Ermanno Nason
• Life/Dates: July 21, 1928 – 2013
• Primary Furnaces: I.V.R. di Mazzega (1953–1964) | Gino Cenedese & Figlio (1964–1972) | Vetraria Arte E. Nason (1972–1994)
• Signature Techniques: A Massello (Solid hot-sculpting) | Alabastro "Seta" (Alabaster Silk Glass)
• Market Price Tier: Mid-Range to Investment Grade
• Key Collaborators: Pablo Picasso | Marc Chagall | Georges Braque | Gio Ponti | Antonio Da Ros

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1. The Legend & Legacy

Born on July 21, 1928, Ermanno Nason belonged to one of Murano's oldest and most prestigious glassmaking lineages, with family records dating back to the 14th century. In the Nason household, glass was not merely a trade; it was an heirloom. Grandfathers, fathers, uncles, and brothers all worked before the furnaces, giving rise to the famous island saying: "pasta de vero dentro al serveo, questo gera i Nason!" (molten glass in their brains, that was the Nasons!). At the young age of nine, Ermanno began helping after school at Nason & Zaniol, the furnace run by his father, Italo "Otello" Nason. He split his formative years between the furnace floor and the Abate Zanetti Apprenticeship School, where he studied drawing under the authoritarian but brilliant designer Vittorio Zecchin.

"During the hardships of World War II, Nason apprenticed under his father and his uncle Emilio Nason (co-founder of A.V.E.M.), blowing basic wartime necessities like headlight covers and medicine vials. Following the war, he spent two years refining his craft blowing chandeliers at Fratelli Ferro. In 1946, at just eighteen years old, his exceptional talent was recognized when he was proclaimed a Maestro at the Pinzan & Cimarrosti glassworks. After a brief period crafting traditional figures, Nason’s career reached a turning point in 1953 when he was hired by I.V.R. di Mazzega. To secure the job, Nason had to pass a grueling Sunday entrance test by executing three highly complex designs drawn by Artistic Director Luigi Scarpa Croce: a classical cup adorned with three dragons, a female nude, and a pelican.

At I.V.R. di Mazzega, Nason served as the Maestro di prima piazza. It was here that he became the primary physical medium for Egidio Costantini’s legendary Fucina degli Angeli (Forge of the Angels), personally blowing and sculpting masterworks for the greatest artists of the 20th century. Seeking creative independence, Nason later operated his own specialty workshops—Arte E. Nason s.n.c. (1959–1962) and Scarpa & Nason s.n.c. (1962–1963)—before joining the celebrated furnace of Gino Cenedese & Figlio as first master glassblower from 1964 to 1972.

At Cenedese, Nason enjoyed immense artistic freedom. The firm's director, Gino Cenedese, famously told him: "Maestro, for me it is enough that you make two masterpieces a week". Working in close, non-verbal synergy with Artistic Director Antonio Da Ros, Nason brought classical, biblical, and modern sculptures to life. In late 1972, he reopened his own furnace, Vetraria Arte E. Nason S.N.C., working alongside his beloved brother Quinto Nason as his assistant (servente). Ermanno Nason’s illustrious career came to a sudden, tragic end on February 18, 1993, when an arsonist's fire destroyed his workshop, turning hundreds of priceless, irreplaceable glass sculptures to ash. He passed away in 2013, leaving behind an immortal legacy as the master who taught the avant-garde how to sculpt with fire.

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2. The "Fingerprint" Technique

While Murano’s post-war market was dominated by thin-blown, weightless glassware, Ermanno Nason’s true passion lay in the monumental, physical potential of heavy, solid glass—a style he mastered through the a massello (solid hot-sculpting) technique. Nason was celebrated on the furnace floor for his hypnotic speed, precision, and decisive touch; observers remarked that his sculptures existed in his mind before they ever left the glory hole, as he rapidly sheared, pulled, and modeled the white-hot mass.

Nason’s structural "fingerprint" is his absolute command over extreme thermal tension. In executing complex cubist figures, Nason was able to fuse heavy, solid-glass limbs seamlessly to paper-thin, hollow-blown bodies. Furthermore, Nason was a meticulous chemical researcher. At Cenedese, he experimented with ancient and modern batch recipes (partie) to develop a highly unique, semi-opaque alabaster "silk" glass (alabastro "seta"). He also pioneered unique, freehand sculptures featuring expressive, ancient-looking figures and dark, abstract silhouettes. He would suspend these figures inside thick, lightly colored blocks of glass, or set them against a glittering background of fused gold leaf.

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3. Famous Collaborations

Ermanno Nason was the trusted hands behind some of modern art's most iconic glass fusions:

• Pablo Picasso: Nason executed Picasso's cubist Water Bearer (Portatrice d'acqua), utilizing his mastery of wall-thickness to fuse solid-glass limbs to a bubble-like torso.
• Marc Chagall: Nason acted as the painter’s brush on clear crystal, applying rich, dense fire-enamels to hot dishes to preserve the floating, dreamlike quality of Chagall's King David (Re David) plate.
• Georges Braque: Nason executed the Sweethearts (Innamorati) plate, applying dense, opaque black glass paste with absolute precision to form Braque's signature kissing birds without any bleeding.
• Gio Ponti: Nason blew Ponti’s Lights (Luci), a space-age light sculpture formed of intersecting hollow tubes of vivid yellow, cobalt, and crystal.
• Antonio Da Ros & Gino Cenedese: Together, they translated Greek and Latin classics and biblical narratives into massive sommerso (submerged) sculptures.
• Emperor Haile Selassie: In November 1970, Nason blew a majestic, 52 cm high crystal and gold lion for the Emperor of Ethiopia, who rewarded the maestro with a pure-gold medal.
• Other Artists: Nason also executed historic designs for Jean Cocteau, Antun Motika, Fulvio Bianconi, Remo Brindisi, Salvatore Fiume, and Harold Stevenson (for whom Nason blew massive, 2-meter-tall glass sculptures in 1969).

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4. The Collector's Diagnostic Checklist

• The Pontil Scar: Authentic Gino Cenedese glassware is typically finished with a meticulously ground and polished flat base. According to Nason, when he opened his own independent workshop (Vetraria Arte E. Nason), he continued to blow his Cenedese designs. Later productions (or those made in his own studio) frequently feature a slightly less finished, rougher, or partially unpolished pontil base.
• Weight & Texture: Nason’s sculptures are exceptionally heavy and thick-walled. Look for his signature opaque alabastro "seta" cased in clear crystal, and heavy glass blocks containing trapped, multi-layered color fusions.
• Labels & Signatures: 1960s Cenedese pieces are signed on the base with an etched "Cenedese" or "G. Cenedese Murano". Original Fucina degli Angeli pieces may feature co-signatures of Egidio Costantini alongside Nason's name or I.V.R. Mazzega factory labels. His independent works are signed or labeled Vetraria Arte E. Nason S.N.C..

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5. Market Realities (Spotting a Bargain)

• The Price Tiers:
  • Investment Grade: Original 1950s Fucina degli Angeli pieces (especially Picasso's Water Bearer or Chagall's King David plate) are world-class museum rarities that command premium prices on the international market.
  • Mid-Range: His Da Ros collaborations for Cenedese, his monumental Harold Stevenson figures, and the "Hommage" series produced in his independent workshop.
  • Accessible: Small utilitarian wares and simple bottles produced under the Scarpa & Nason label (1961–1962).
• Common Misattributions: Entry-level collectors often confuse Ermanno Nason's solid massello figurines with those of his uncle Emilio Nason (AVEM) or Alfredo Barbini. Emilio’s work is characterized by lighthearted, humorous, and caricature-like figurines (such as caricatures of Africans, Indians, or Commedia dell'arte characters). Ermanno’s solid glass, by contrast, is characterized by a "decisive, restless, and powerful" musculature, showing the deep, abstract, and anatomical influence of 20th-century sculptors like Henry Moore.

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