The @ Ravenna

The piece. This boat shape was common among the earliest Ravennas, and it may be in these early boat shapes - often with semi-figurative motifs, a clear base, a matching rim, and a double layer of glass plates - that the Ravenna reaches its highest level. When I - in my book - talk about the best Ravennas combining technique and artistry to reach world-class, this is the sort of object I am referring to. In later Ravennas the colour-powder was often forgotten or seen as an unnecessary nuisance. In the early Ravennas however, the colour-powder was an important ingredient, and this very early Ravenna illustrates this very well. Having the rim in a different color than the background, particularly in the same color as the motif, was not unusual for the early Ravennas. We all know that Sven Palmqvist was a great technician - that he allegedly invented Ravenna, Kraka, Fuga, Selena, etc. - but few, if any had realized that, as this piece proves, he was thinking about inventing the internet.