The Portland Vase is a Roman cameo glass vase, which is dated to between AD 1 and AD 25, though low BC dates have some scholarly support.[1] It is the best known piece of Roman cameo glass and has served as an inspiration to many glass and porcelain makers from about the beginning of the 18th century onwards. It is first recorded in Rome in 1600–1601, and since 1810 has been in the British Museum in London, although until 1945 it was on loan from the Dukes of Portland. It was bought by the museum in 1945 (GR 1945,0927.1) and is normally on display in Room 70.
The vase measures about 25 centimetres (9.8 in) high and 18 cm (7.1 in) diameter. It is made of violet-blue glass, and surrounded with a single continuous white glass cameo making two distinct scenes, depicting seven human figures, plus a large snake, and two bearded and horned heads below the handles, marking the break between the scenes.
The bottom of the vase was a cameo glass disc, also in blue and white, showing a head, presumed to be of Paris or Priam on the basis of the Phrygian cap it wears. This roundel[citation needed] clearly does not belong to the vase, and has been displayed separately since 1845. It may have been added in antiquity or later, or is the result of a conversion from an original amphora form (paralleled by a similar blue-glass cameo vessel from Pompeii). It was attached to the bottom from at least 1826.
^The British Museum dates it between AD 1 and AD 25 – collection database ("5–25 AD" per the Highlights section, and Williams in 2009); a date some time between 30 BC and 20 BC was suggested in 1990, following research by William Gudenrath, Kenneth Painter and David Whitehouse, director of the Corning Museum of Glass, Journal of Glass Studies, Vol 32 1990.
The PortlandVase is a Roman cameo glass vase, which is dated to between AD 1 and AD 25, though low BC dates have some scholarly support. It is the best...
was the emergence in the 16th century of the cameo glass PortlandVase (or "Barberini Vase"), dated to around the reign of Augustus. This was allegedly...
sphinx, and may have been created by the same artist. The PortlandVase, a Roman cameo glass vase dated to the Augustan period and now in the British Museum...
famous example of these, and also among the best preserved, is the PortlandVase in the British Museum. Other fine examples, such as the Morgan Cup (Corning...
sold to the Duke of Portland, and has subsequently been known as the PortlandVase. Following catastrophic damage, this glass vase (1-25BC) has been reconstructed...
Portland PortlandVase, a Roman antique exhibited at the British Galleries The Adventures of Portland Bill Earl of Portland (also Duke of Portland), an English...
the PortlandVase which was brought to England by Hamilton by 1784. The vase was lent to Wedgwood by William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland from...
the Casali Altar (Vatican Museums), in engraved couched glass on the PortlandVase (British Museum), or on a sarcophagus in the Palazzo Mattei. Mars' discovery...
modeled on that of Trimalchio. Robin Brooks refers to Trimalchio in The PortlandVase, recounting the tale of a glass maker who claimed to have made unbreakable...
scene. A Roman cameo glass vessel in the British Museum known as the PortlandVase contains a possible depiction of Cleopatra and her imminent death. Dated...
cups and rings. The Romans invented cameo glass, best known from the PortlandVase, as a cheaper material for cameos, and one that allowed consistent and...
England. The most famous design is Wedgwood's copy of the PortlandVase, a famous Roman vase now in the British Museum, which was lent to Wedgwood to copy...
Whitehouse with the aim of re-creating the PortlandVase. A full amount of blue glass required for the body of the vase was gathered on the end of the blowpipe...
supporter of the arts and sciences – he was the first recorded owner of the PortlandVase, and his Palazzo Madama household was one of the most important intellectual...
Durand's collections), Roman glass including the famous Cameo glass PortlandVase, Roman gold glass (the second largest collection after the Vatican Museums)...
color but glows purple-red to transmitted light, and the cameo glass Portlandvase which is midnight blue, with a carved white overlay. In early Christian...
spectacular type of luxury Roman glass, cameo glass objects like the PortlandVase. Both the technology used to make them and the way they were used are...
Great's summer palace, Peterhof, outside of St. Petersburg, Russia. PortlandVase and Apollo Barberini, also collected by the Barberini List of works...
Barberini vase as the final test of his technical skill. Wedgwood's obsession was to duplicate the PortlandVase, a blue-and-white glass vase dating to...
artisan-created cut glass items such as vases, glasses and objets-d'art. The famous replica of the Roman PortlandVase was cut in Wordsley. One of the most...
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