The influence of ancient Rome is replete in modern Western culture. This is well known, and easy to observe. We see it in the way our cities are designed, how our buildings look, how our government is structured, and in the languages we speak. Yet these are very large, overarching, huge influences. Ancient Rome has also influenced many of our day-to-day smaller objects, from ceramics and cutlery to jewelry and glassware. By 1790, Josiah Wedgwood had borrowed so heavily from ancient Rome that he recreated, entirely in ceramic, the most famous piece of Roman glassware.
Beginning in Rome ca. 30 BCE, cameo glass art was a popular art form, and, though it did not long stay in fashion, continues to influence our decorative art and jewelry today. In ancient times, it was both costly and artistically complex. A substitute for precious or semi-precious stones and gems, cameo glass images were achieved by layering glass of contrasting colors and carved so that light images in relief stood out against dark backgrounds (1). In the early first century CE, the most famous Roman cameo glass piece was produced: the Portland Vase.
The Portland Vase is so named because it was in the collection of the Dukes of Portland for several generations. It has been under the custodianship of the British Museum since 1810, and the institution bought the vase from the Dukes of Portland in 1945 with the aid of a generous donor (2). Its provenance prior to the Dukes of Portland boasts ownership by the Barberini family, a powerful Italian family who boasted several members in high ranks of the Catholic Church, including one Pope (Urban VIII). The vase appears in records around 1600, though its find spot is unknown (one story states that it was found in the tomb of Emperor Alexander Severus) (3).
Prior to calling the British Museum home, the vase was lent to Josiah Wedgwood, a potter famous for recreating black basalt in ceramic and for inventing “jasperware,” a method with neoclassical forms and subjects made to resemble Roman cameos. Wedgwood produced a copy of the Portland Vase in 1790, though the ceramic version is black ground (the original Roman glass is a deep violet/blue). Copying the original took Wedgwood four years to perfect, due to complications in the ceramic makeup of the vessel and in the firing process, which proved difficult in achieving the delicacy of the original’s white scenery. As with many of Wedgwood’s works, the Portland Vase copy was not a singular copy, but rather an edition of copies, meaning that many were made.
One would think that a piece as famous as the Portland Vase, as well as Wedgwood’s ceramic copy, would be completely decoded by now. After all, it’s been in existence for over 2,000 years. On the contrary: the subject matter of the scenery is still open to interpretation. With its date of production estimated to be the beginning of the first century CE and considering the quality of the craftsmanship, the vase very likely may have belonged to a member of the Roman imperial household, if not the emperor himself (either Augustus or Tiberius). Scholars have taken the probable ownership into account and it's possible that the scenery depicts representations of the imperial family. Most interpretations of the scenery are based in myth, from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (the parents of Achilles), to the ruling family of Troy before its destruction. The Corning Museum of Glass notes that over 45 interpretations have been offered (4). Favored interpretations are those which view the vase as imperial propaganda, showing moments from the (not necessarily factual) life of the first emperor, Augustus. We'll leave you to study the scenery and iconography and decide for yourself what story the scenes tell!
Fun (stressful?) fact: the original Roman glass vase was once completely shattered by a (probably drunk) student in 1845. Thankfully, a miraculous feat of conservation restored it. By 1845, Wedgwood had already made his famous ceramic copies, which no doubt aided the conservator charged with its reassembly.
The history and theories of the Portland Vase and Wedgwood's famous copy in jasperware are perhaps overwhelming, though never boring. We here at Art History HQ love "small finds" like this vase, whose production, imagery, and provenance provide a lifetime's work of research. While it's often gratifying to "crack the code" of a piece of artwork, we find the mysterious infinitely more alluring!
Footnotes:
(1) Lightfoot, Christopher. “Luxury Arts of Rome.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.
(2) The British Museum, “amphora; vessel (closed); cameo.” https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1945-0927-1. Accession number: 1945,0927.1
(3) Williams, Dyfri. Masterpieces of Classical Art. London: British Museum Publication, 2009.
(4) Corning Museum of Glass, "Portland Vase Iconography." https://www.cmog.org/article/portland-vase-iconography#:~:text=One%20theory%20about%20the%20Portland,George%20Washington%20crossing%20the%20Delaware.
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