The Portland-Vase (Scene 1, on the original)

Scene 2, on a copy

The Portland Vase is a first century BC Roman cameo glass vase, which served as an inspiration to many glass and porcelain makers from about the beginning of the 18th Century onwards. Since 1945 the vase has belonged to the British Museum in London (reference - GR 1945.9-27.1 (Gems 4036) ; on display in Room 70, Rome: City & Empire). The Portland Vase Template:Pd-user File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Portland Vase Template:Pd-user File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata The_Portland_Vase,_by_Euheli_Del_Dosso,_1890. ... Image File history File linksMetadata The_Portland_Vase,_by_Euheli_Del_Dosso,_1890. ... Area under Roman control  Roman Republic  Roman Empire  Western Empire  Eastern Empire Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a city-state founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... Glass can be made transparent and flat, or into other shapes and colors as shown in this sphere from the Verrerie of Brehat in Brittany. ... Fine China redirects here. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, with a tessellated glass roof by Buro Happold and Foster and Partners surrounding the original Reading Room. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

The vase is about 25 centimetres high and 56 in circumference. It is made of violet-blue glass, and surrounded with a single continuous white glass cameo depicting seven figures (humans and gods). 2002 Lincoln cent, obverse, proof with cameo Cameo is a method of carving, or an item of jewelry made in this manner. ...

On the bottom was a cameo-glass disc, also in blue and white, showing a head, presumed to be of Paris or Priam on the basis of the Phrygian cap it wears. This roundel clearly does not belong to the vase, and has been displayed separately since 1845. It may have been to mend a break in antiquity or after, or the result of a conversion from an original amphora form (paralleled by a similar blue-glass cameo vessel from Pompeii) - it was definitely attached to the bottom from at least 1826. Statue of Paris in the British Museum Paris (Greek: ; also known as Alexander or Alexandros, c. ... In Greek mythology, Priam (Greek Πρίαμος) was the king of Troy during the Trojan War, and son of Laomedon. ... The Phrygian cap or Liberty cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, worn by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia in antiquity. ... Amphoræ on display in Bodrum Castle, Turkey An amphora is a type of ceramic vase with two handles, used for the transportation and storage of perishable goods and more rarely as containers for the ashes of the dead or as prize awards. ... Pompeii is a ruined Roman city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the commune of Pompei. ...

Iconography

The meaning of the images on the vase is unclear and controversial. Interpretations of the portrayals have included that of a marine setting (due to the presence of a ketos or sea-snake), and of a marriage theme/context (i.e. as a wedding gift). Many scholars (even Charles Towneley) have concluded that the figures do not fit into a single iconographic set. Dr Jerome Eisenberg has argued on this basis in MINERVA magazine that the vase was produced in the 16th Century AD and not antiquity[1], but this theory has not been widely accepted. Much of the following text is taken from the public domain Encyclopedia Britannica 1911, as such it may contain errors and inaccuracies Charles Towneley (1737-1805), English archaeologist and collector of marbles, was born at Towneley, the family seat, near Burnley in Lancashire, on the ist of October 1737. ... It has been said “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and so it is that iconography is the traditional art of portraying figures in pigment that symbolically mean more than a simple depiction of the person involved. ... Minerva most often refers to: Minerva, the Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom. ...

Some interpretations of the 2 main scenes are:

Augustus (Latin: IMP•CAESAR•DIVI•F•AVGVSTVS;[1] September 23, 63 BC–August 19, AD 14), known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (English Octavian; Latin: C•IVLIVS•C•F•CAESAR•OCTAVIANVS) for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, was the first and among the most important of... For other uses, see Apollo (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Judgement of Paris, Peter Paul Rubens, ca 1636 (National Gallery, London) For the wine-tasting event known as The Judgment of Paris, see Judgment of Paris (wine) The Judgment of Paris is a story from Greek mythology, in which the roots of the Trojan War can be found. ... Troy or Ilion, see Troy (disambiguation) and Ilion (disambiguation). ... Peleus consigns Achilles to Chirons care, white-ground lekythos by the Edinburgh Painter, ca. ... This article is about the Greek sea nymph. ... Drinking scene with Dionysus and Ariadne on his lap. ... The primary use of “Naxos” is as the name of a Greek island in the Cyclades. ... Bust of Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (Latin: M·ANTONIVS·M·F·M·N[1]) ( January 14 83 BC–August 1, 30 BC), known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. ... Cleopatra (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ; January 69 BC–November 30, 30 BC) was an Hellenistic co-ruler of Egypt with her father (Ptolemy XII Auletes) and later with her brothers/husbands Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV. She later became the supreme ruler of Egypt, consummated a liaison with Gaius Julius Caesar that solidified... ASP is a three-letter acronym with numerous meanings in different contexts. ... Romanitas refers to an immiscibly Latin culture of the Roman Empire. ... Anton Look up anton in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other Roman noble women of this name see Octavia (69 - 11 BC.) Octavia Thurina Minor was one of the most prominent women in Roman history, respected and admired by contemporaries for her loyalty, nobility and humanity and for maintaining traditional Roman feminine virtues. ... Venus is the Roman goddess of love, equivalent to Greek Aphrodite and Etruscan Turan. ... Julius (fem. ...

Life story

Manufacture

Based on the scenes and the style of the work, the Portland Vase is generally believed to have been made in Rome some time between 30 BC and 20 BC^[1].

Cameo-glass vessels were probably all made within about two generations as experiments when the blowing technique (discovered in about 50 BC) was still in its infancy. Recent research has shown that the Portland vase, like the majority of cameo-glass vessels, was made by the dip-overlay method, whereby an elongated bubble of glass was partially dipped into a crucible (fire-resistant container) of white glass, before the two were blown together. After cooling the white layer was cut away to form the design.

The work towards making a 19th century copy proved to be incredibly painstaking, and based on this it is believed that the Portland Vase must have taken its original artisan no less than two years to produce.

The cutting was probably performed by a skilled gem-cutter[3]. It is believed that the cutter may have been Dioskourides, as gems cut by him of a similar period and signed by him, (Vollenweider 1966, see Gem in the collection of the Duke of Devenshire Diomedes stealing the Palladium. This is confirmed by The Corning Museum in their 190 page study of the vase-see above.)

Discovery

Legend has it that it was discovered by Fabrizio Lazzaro in the sepulchre of the Emperor Alexander Severus, at Monte del Grano near Rome, and excavated some time around 1582. Alexander Severus Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexandrus (October 1, 208- March 18?, 235), commonly called Alexander Severus, Roman emperor from 222 to 235, was born at Arca Caesarea in Palestine. ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban...

The first possible historical reference to the vase is in a 1601 letter from the French scholar Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc to the painter Peter Paul Rubens, where it is recorded as in the collection of Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte in Italy. It then passed to the Barberini family collection where it remained for some two hundred years, being one of the treasures of Maffeo Berberini, later Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644). Events February 8 - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Elizabeth I of England - revolt is quickly crushed February 25 - Robert Devereux beheaded Jesuit Matteo Ricci arrives in China Bad harvest in Russia due to rainy summer Dutch troops drive Portuguese from Málaga Battle of Kinsale, Ireland Births... Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (December 1, 1580 – June 24, 1637) was a French astronomer and savant who maintained a wide correspondence with scientists and was a successful organizer of scientific inquiry, whose own researches were not confined to the matter of determining the difference in longitude of various locations... Rubens and Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle Bower Alte Pinakothek Peter Paul Rubens (June 28, 1577 – May 30, 1640) was the most popular and prolific Flemish and European painter of the 17th century. ... Francesco Maria Del Monte, full name Francesco Maria Borbone Del Monte (5 July 1549 - 27 August 1627) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church, diplomat and connoisseur of the arts. ... The Barberini family was a powerful Italian family, originally of Tuscan extraction, who settled in Florence during the early part of the eleventh century. ...

1778 to present

Wedgwood copy in the British Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, with the original roundel base still in place.

Sir William Hamilton, British ambassador in Naples, purchased it in 1778 from James Byres. Byres, a Scottish art dealer, had acquired it after it was sold by Donna Cornelia Barberini-Colonna, Princess of Palestrina. She had inherited the vase from the Barberini family. Hamilton brought it to England on his next leave, after the death of his first wife, Catherine. In 1784, with the assistance of his neice, Mary, he arranged a private sale to Margaret Cavendish-Harley, widow of William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland and so dowager Duchess of Portland[4]. She passed it to her son William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland in 1786. He lent it to Josiah Wedgwood, who devoted considerable time to duplicating it in jasperware with white applied reliefs and made it famous through various copies, of which there are now examples in most museums (including the copy sent by Wedgwood to Erasmus Darwin which was loaned to the Fitzwilliam Museum by his descendents in 1963 and then purchased by them; the Victoria and Albert Museum; and - ironically, as this was where the original was to end up - the British Museum). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1035x1035, 632 KB) Portland Vase, Wedgewood copy, British Galleries, Victoria and Albert Museum I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1035x1035, 632 KB) Portland Vase, Wedgewood copy, British Galleries, Victoria and Albert Museum I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version... The Victoria and Albert Museum viewed from Thurloe Square. ... William Hamilton Sir William Douglas Hamilton (December 13, 1730–April 6, 1803) was a Scottish diplomat, antiquarian, archaeologist and volcanologist. ... Margaret Cavendish-Harley Margaret Cavendish-Harley (February 11, 1715, Welbeck Abbey - July 17, 1785, Bulstrode, Buckinghamshire), was the richest woman in the Kingdom of Great Britain at her time. ... Descendants of William Bentinck & Margaret Cavendsish-Harley These records do include data that have been copied from other pages of Wilkipedia, added to which include 7 ancestral generations back from:- Queen Elizabeth II of England, on her mothers side. ... William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, (April 14, 1738 - October 30, 1809) was a British Whig and Tory statesman and Prime Minister. ... Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (July 12, 1730 – January 3, 1795) was an English potter, credited with the industrialization of the manufacture of pottery. ... . This is an example of Jasperware Jasperware is a form of pottery that has a stoneware body which is either white or colored, which is noted for its matte finish. ... Portrait of Erasmus Darwin by Joseph Wright of Derby (1792) Stone-cast bust of Erasmus Darwin, by William John Coffee, c 1795, (Crown Derby Modeller and world renown artist) Erasmus Darwin (December 12, 1731 – April 18, 1802) trained as a physician and wrote extensively on medicine and botany, as well... The main entrance to the Fitzwilliam Museum, facing Trumpington Sreet. ... The Victoria and Albert Museum viewed from Thurloe Square. ... The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, with a tessellated glass roof by Buro Happold and Foster and Partners surrounding the original Reading Room. ...

The Duke also loaned the original vase to the British Museum for safe-keeping, at which point it was dubbed the "Portland Vase". It was deposited there permanently by the fourth Duke in 1810, after a friend of his broke its base. William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland (6 June 1768–27 March 1854). ...

From the standpoint of art history the vase is interesting as it twice served as a major source of artistic inspiration in two favorite British media - not only Wedgwood's copy, but also in the 19th Century a £1000 prize was offered by Benjamin Richardson to anyone who could duplicate the cameo work in glass. Taking three years, glass maker Philip Pargeter made a copy and John Northwood engraved it, to win the prize. This copy is in the Corning Glass Museum in New York. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson (October 1828 – November 21, 1896) was an eminent British physician, anaesthetist, physiologist, sanitarian, and a prolific writer on medical history. ...

The original Roman vase has remained in the British Museum ever since 1810, apart from three years (1929-32) when William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland put it up for sale at Christie's, but it failed to reach its reserve. It was purchased by the Museum from William Cavendish-Bentinck, 7th Duke of Portland in 1945 with the aid of a bequest from James Rose Vallentin. The Most Noble William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland KG PC (December 28, 1857–April 26, 1943) was the son of Lt. ... Christies Auction Room in London circa 1808. ... William Arthur Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 7th Duke of Portland (1893-1977) was the 2nd Chancellor of the University of Nottingham. ...

Vandalism and reconstruction

• On February 7, 1845, the vase was shattered to pieces by the 'intemperate' vandal William Lloyd, who had drunkenly thrown a nearby sculpture on top of the case smashing both it and the vase to pieces. The vase was pieced together, with fair success, though the restorer was unable to replace all of the pieces and thirty-seven small fragments were lost. It appears they had been put into a box and forgotten about. In 1948, the Keeper Bernard Ashmole received thrity seven fragments in a box from a Mr Croker of Putney.who did not know what they were. In 1845 Mr Doubleday, the first restorer did not know where these fragments went. A colleague had taken these to a Mr Gabb, a box maker, who was asked to make a box with thirty seven compartments, one for each fragment.The colleague died, the box was never collected, Mr Gabb died and his executrix a Miss Revees asked Mr Croker to ask the Museum if they could identify them.The Duke's descendants finally sold the vase to the museum in 1945.
• By 1948, the previous restoration appeared aged and it was decided to restore the vase, but the restorer was only successful in replacing three of the fragments. The adhesive from this weakened over the 30 years it was present and by 1986 the joints rattled when the vase was gently tapped.
• The third and current reconstruction took place in 1987, when a new generation of conservators assessed the vase's condition during its appearance as the focal piece of an international exhibition of Roman glass and, at the conclusion of the exhibition, it was decided to go ahead with reconstruction and stabilisation. The treatment had a lot of press coverage as well as interest from scholars. The vase was extensively photographed and drawn to record the position of fragments before dismantling, and the BBC filmed the conservation process. All previous adhesives had failed, so to find one that would last for much longer, conservation scientists at the Museum tested many adhesives for long term stability. Finally, an epoxy resin that had shown excellent ageing properties was chosen. Reassembly of the vase was made more difficult as the edges of some fragments were found to have been filed down during the previous restorations. Nevertheless, all of the fragments were replaced except for a few small splinters. Any areas that were still missing were gap-filled with a blue-coloured epoxy resin or, where loss occurred to the figures, with white-coloured resin.

The newly conserved Portland Vase was returned to display. Little sign of the original damage is visible now and, except for light cleaning, the vase should not require major conservation work for many years to come. February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In popular culture

The Portland Vase is mentioned as having been rescued by time travellers from the future just before the destruction of the Earth, in Arthur C. Clarke's 1951 science fiction short story "All the Time in the World." Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ... Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (born December 16, 1917) is a British author and inventor, most famous for his science-fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...

Notes

1. ^ The Corning Museum of Glass, Journal of Glass Studies Vol 32 1990, following research by William Gudenrath, Kenneth Painter and David Whitehouse, Director of the Corning Museum.

External links

• BM Compass page
• A Hand Engraved study of the Portland Vase composition on a Tudor Crystal Challice, by Lesley Pyke - Professional Glass Engraver Feb 2007

Bibliography

• L. Burn, The British Museum book of Greek and Roman art (London, The British Museum Press, 1991), pp. 204-5
• H. Tait (ed.), Five thousand years of glass, 2nd paperback edition (London, The British Museum Press, 1999), pp. 4-5, fig.75
• I. Jenkins and K. Sloan, Vases and Volcanoes: Sir William Hamilton and his Collection (London, The British Museum Press, 1996), pp. 187-88, no. 63
• V. Tatton-Brown and W. Gudenrath, Catalogue of Greek and Roman glass in the British Museum II (London, The British Museum Press, forthcoming)
• D.B. Harden and others, The British Museum: masterpieces of glass, a selection (London, 1968)
• K. Painter and D. Whitehouse, 'The History of the Portland Vase', Journal of Glass Studies, 32 (1990), pp. 24-84
• Susan Walker, The Portland Vase (London, British Museum Press, 2004)