Terms and conditions of use
Canopic vase
(c. 1810)
- Medium
- stoneware (green jasper)
- Measurements
- (a-b) 26.1 × 13.3 cm diameter (overall)
- Place/s of Execution
- Staffordshire, England
- Inscription
- (a) impressed in base l.c.: WEDGWOOD / (...illeg.)
- Accession Number
- D25.a-b-1993
- Department
- International Decorative Arts
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through The Art Foundation of Victoria by Mrs Norma Deutsher, Fellow, 1993
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- 18th & 19th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International - About this work
-
Examples of Egyptian-inspired wares first appear in Wedgwood’s First Ornamental Ware Catalogue of 1773. The inspiration for the shape and decoration of this vase was Bernard de Montfaucon’s five-volume publication of Mediterranean antiquities published in 1722. The random selection of hieroglyphs were taken from the Tabula Isiaca, or Isis tablet. The upper section of one of the candle stand emblems is also taken from a candle stand in the Isis tablet, and the other candle stand motif is taken from another vase illustrated in Montfaucon’s L’Antiquité expliquée, the ‘Isis and Osiris’ vase, and is a combination of two emblems.
- Physical description
- Vase made in the manner of an ancient Egyptian canopic vase with the cover in the form of a man's head. Body has hieroglyphs and signs of the zodiac in white relief.
