Copy of Portland Vase

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Copy of Portland Vase

Manufacturer Wedgwood English

Place of OriginEngland

Dateabout 1790

Dimensions10 1/16 in. (25.6 cm)

Mediumearthenware, jasper

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LineGift of Alfred B. Koch

Object number

1923.3101

On View

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2444 Monroe Street), Glass Pavilion Gallery, 3

Collections

Decorative Arts

Label TextWhile glassmakers have often sought to imitate ceramic, such as with Mieke Groot’s Vase, this ambitious model of the ancient Portland Vase by Josiah Wedgwood (British, 1730–1795) is a rare instance of ceramic copying glass. The celebrated Roman cameo glass vessel was blown of two fused glass layers of contrasting color, the outermost, white layer than carved down to create the mythological scene. Cameo glass was the most luxurious glass of the late Augustan era (early 1st cent. B.C.). In 1783, Margaret Bentinck, second duchess of Portland, bought the Roman piece from the Barberini family in Rome; it has since been known as the Portland Vase. The sensation that the acquisition caused probably prompted Wedgwood to create his jasper ware copy around 1789, and his workshop continued to produce the vases for decades. The famous Roman glass original is owned by The British Museum.