Vase

ca. 1801-1900

This is a later version of one of Wedgwood’s best-known pieces. It reproduces in ceramic the Portland Vase, one of the most famous objects from antiquity, now in the British Museum. An ancient Roman cameo glass vase from the reign of the emperor Augustus, it was found about 1600 and was owned by the Barberini family in Rome until it was bought by a Scotsman in 1780; it was eventually brought to England, where it was sold to the Duchess of Portland. The original vase has a dark blue glass body cased in white glass that was cameo cut to reveal the blue beneath. Wedgwood was eager to make copies of this famous artifact to sell. The first Wedgwood versions were made about 1787, and it has been in production ever since.