Tadpole Fish Figurine Paperweight by Murano Sommerso Art Glass

Hand Blown Glass Tadpole

This cute little fish-like thing is probably a tadpole. It could also be a stylized guppy. It was made in Sommerso; two layers of glass hand blown together. The pontil mark is polished in a moon shape and serves as the base.This little fishy-thing is unsigned, but it definitely is vintage Murano glass. The colorless glass glows yellow under black-light which helps us date it to the 1960s or earlier. The eyes were designed like little targets. It’s unusual to see decorative details in the eyes of figurines like this, the eyes are usually just blobs of frit in a single color. The black and pink ringed eyes are the cause of the dark reflections in the images.

The paperweight measures 5 1/4″ long, 1½” tall, and 1½” wide. It weighs ½ lb.