WEDGWOOD AND THE PORTLAND VASE
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The Portland Vase - Cleopatra seduces Antony?
The Portland Vase - Octavia as the 'abandoned heroine'?
The Portland Vase - side view
Blue jasperware copy of the Portland Vase. Wedgwood c. 1791. Presented to the BM by Josiah Wedgewood's eldest son John in 1802
Black jasperware copy of the Portland Vase. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, c. 1790.
Black jasperware copy of the Portland Vase. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, c. 1790. Detail
The Portland Vase is a cameo glass vessel which was probably made in Rome circa 15 BCE - 25 CE. It is unquestionably one of the finest surviving pieces of Roman glasswae, and it takes its name from the Dukes of Portland, who owned it from 1785 to 1945. In its original form it tapered down to a pointed base, and had a lower band of decoration (probably animals in a rural landscape). The scene is rather enigmatic: one interpretation is that it depicts Peleus and THetis (the parents of Akhilleus), another is that it shows the seduction of Mark Antony by Kleopatre, and his desertion of Octavian's sister Octavia. It has been exhibited in the British Museum since 1810, although in 1845 a visitor deliberately smashed it. The 125 fragments were reassembled by John Doubleday within 5 minths
THevase was brought to England by Sir William Hamilton and lent to Josiah Wedgwood by the 3rd Dukle of Portland. Between 1786-95 Wedgwood made reproductions of it in blue and black jasperware, although more often in black, which was found to be more successful.
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