Paolo Venini 'Inciso' Paperweight

This abstract modernist paperweight was handmade at the Venini workshop, Murano, Italy, around 1960. It belongs to Paolo Venini's 'Inciso' series, in which glass items are wheel-engraved to create a textural frosted surface. This laborious process lends the item an almost ethereal quality, and results in each piece being very tactile. 

Cased within the centre of the cube-like, textured shell is a globule of teal glass.