Red and amber “jeweled" seven-inch egg. Handblown murrine glass art.

A red and amber patterned handblown glass sculptural “jeweled egg”, made using the ancient Venetian (Muranno) technique of murrine (patterned disks of colored glass). 

Murrine are fabricated by first pulling canes (rods of colored glass), often complex canes with multiple layers of color (one studio day). Those canes are then assembling into a patterned bundle (another day), then heated in a kiln, picked up on a pipe, fused together and then that fused bundle is pulled out into a rod approximately a half-inch to an inch in diameter (another day). That rod is the broken or cut into disks (another day), which are called murrine. To make the piece, these murrine are laid out in a two-dimensional sheet, heated to fuse them together, and then rolled up into a three-dimensional object (another day). In this case, layer of amber-colored glass was incorporated into the surface of the bubble before the murrine were rolled up This sculpture is sold with a transparent acrylic ring to support it for display, as seen in the images. This “jeweled egg” sculpture is one of a kind and was blown by the artist (David L Smith) with a unique shape and pattern. Because this is hand-blown, there are small bubbles and tool marks present in the piece. These are artifacts of the process and testify to its handblown nature. This sculpture is a piece of art and is signed and dated (2024) by the artist.  Inspired by the famed eggs once presented to the royal families of Russia by a certain jeweler, but also infused with contemporary flair, the egg is a treasure sure to be cherished by anyone lucky enough to acquire it. It makes the perfect gift for that hard-to-shop-for person on your list. It's for sure they don't already have this one-of-a-kind piece of art!