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Portland vase

Portland vase
 (c. 1790)

Medium
stoneware (blue jasper)
Measurements
26.5 × 18.7 cm diameter
Place/s of Execution
Staffordshire, England
Accession Number
1998.283
Department
International Decorative Arts
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of The Shell Company of Australia Limited, Founder Benefactor, 1998
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
Not on display
Physical description
Two-handled vase in lapis blue jasper dip covering a grey-blue body of similar intensity. The applied white reliefs include classical figures, trees and masks at the handles. On one side a seated woman accompanied by a serpent holds the arm of a young man, while a young Eros flies above with a torch and a bearded man looks on; on the other the central figure of a reclining woman with an inverted torch is flanked by a seated male and a seated female. The reliefs have added details painted in blue and grey to simulate the transparent effects of the glass-engraver or stone-cutter. The base is similarly decorated and shows the half-figure of a man wearing a Phrygian cap, his hand raised to his mouth. Accompanied by a modern metal and mirror stand.