Skip Navigation

Vase

Decorative Arts and Design

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.
MEDIUM Tinted stoneware
DATES ca. 1801–1900
DIMENSIONS 10 x 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (25.4 x 19.0 x 19.0 cm)  (show scale)
MARKINGS Impressed on bottom "WEDGWOOD"
SIGNATURE not signed
INSCRIPTIONS no inscriptions
ACCESSION NUMBER 1996.85.1
CREDIT LINE Gift of Mrs. William Liberman
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Wedgwood and Sons (British, Staffordshire, 1759–present). Vase, ca. 1801–1900. Tinted stoneware, 10 x 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (25.4 x 19.0 x 19.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. William Liberman, 1996.85.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1996.85.1_bw.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 1996.85.1_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
Wedgwood and Sons (British, Staffordshire, 1759–present). <em>Vase</em>, ca. 1801–1900. Tinted stoneware, 10 x 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (25.4 x 19.0 x 19.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. William Liberman, 1996.85.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1996.85.1_bw.jpg)