Pair of Rare Venetian Murano Glass Fantasy Appliques

fourth quarter 19th century, the carved, gessoed and painted wood Carnivale figures each with an extended arm holding a Murano glass-decorated candle holder, the oval mirrored frames engraved and accented with Venetian glass flowers and trim.
h. 24", w. 18", d. 14-1/2"

Provenance: Collection of Speed Lamkin, Monroe, Louisiana; Estate of Victor and Marie Cascio, Monroe, Louisiana.

Notes: An example can be found in Bruce M. Newman and Alastair Duncan, Fantasy Furniture (New York: Rizzoli, 1989), p. 153.

Outrageous lot in as-found estate condition. Gentleman with an old touched-up crack at the outer neck above the collar. Clown's arm with an old open crack above the elbow, two-thirds around and an old crack from the ruff edge into the shoulder inside the frame--all stabile. Surface losses to the hat with a small surface loss at the left shoulder within the frame. Both faces intact and very expressive. Both "candelabra" exhibit two empty sockets. The narrow outer glass rods on the frames differ slightly in design. Scattered losses and restorations to the larger colored flowers (one lacking). The clear flowers around the inner frames with scattered small losses and substitutions over time. The engraved mirror panels with scattered very small losses to corners and old cracks as follows: Clown: Diagonal crack across segment under the arm. Gentleman: Diagonal cracks across two lower panels and one upper panel. The recessed interior portion of both lined with an old slightly shaggy matching fabric, probably cotton, with a small loss behind the clown's outer shoulder. Almost all of the issues mentioned above are visible in the catalog/online photos. All of the above is consistent with the age and fragile nature of these pieces.