Pair of large decorative vases, 1927

AWARD-WINNING F. DE POLI FOUNDRY IN VITTORIO VENETO Pair of large decorative vases, 1927 Bronze, height 100 cm One of the two is dated "J927" on the base; the other bears the inscription: "AWARD-WINNING F. DE POLI FOUNDRY IN VITTORIO VENETO" under the edge. Founded in the distant 1453, it is among the oldest Italian foundries still operating. In its history, it has had various branches between Venice and Udine. The De Poli Foundry, in its workshop "at the Dai bridge, under the sign of the Madonna" (Calle dei Fabbri), also cast mortars, pestles, and firearms in addition to bells. In 1481, the De Polis cast a bell for the Duomo of Ceneda (now Vittorio Veneto) and in 1606 a bell for the Church of San Giusto in Trieste. This artisan workshop continues to be documented in Venice throughout the eighteenth century. In the church of San Giorgio in Basalghelle, the 28-meter-high bell tower, built by the work and direction of a master builder in 1869, houses the three bells of 16,100 quintals from the De Poli foundry. The first is one of the three bells awarded at the 1869 Rome Exhibition; this is why it could be saved from the requisition that the Germans made of the bells in 1918. A typical feature of that period is the use of the "J" instead of the number "1". The pair of vases is characterized by a very refined chasing work, which differs in some details from one vase to the other. The neo-Renaissance taste, fused with the then current international Art Deco, suggests an important foreign commission present in Italy in the Twenties.