The Borghese Vase
Volterran School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1800 - 1830
Materials
Alabaster; gilt-bronze
Measurements
432 mm (Height); 292 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Volterra (Italy)
Order this imageCollection
Mount Stewart, County Down
NT 1221051
Summary
Sculpture, alabaster; the Borghese Vase; Italian, Volterra; c. 1800-1830. A finely carved vase in translucent alabaster that copies the celebrated colossal Roman marble vase known as the Borghese Vase, in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Adapted for use as a lamp.
Full description
An alabaster vase copying the form of the celebrated colossal marble urn known as the Borghese Vase. In krater form, with a frieze of ten Bacchic figures, among them Bacchus, who stands holding a thyrsus (a staff with a pine cone at its point) accompanied by a woman with a lyre, identified as Bacchus’s lover Ariadne. They are accompanied by satyrs and human other figures dancing and in dionysiac frenzy. Around the inside lip of the vase a frieze of vine leaves and grapes; below the main frieze, the belly of the vase has gadrooned decoration; two handles emerging from satyr masks. The vase is set on a narrow-waisted foot with palm-leaf beading and fluting, in turn set on a rectangular stepped base that rests on four metal ball feet. Now adapted for electric light. The Borghese vase is a Hellenistic marble vase, with a modern foot, that was discovered in Rome around 1569 and was long one of the highlights of the collections at the Villa Borghese in Rome. Along with almost the entire sculpture collection, the Borghese Vase was sold in 1808 to the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and is today in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (Inv. MR 985. Coliva 2011, pp. 238-39, no. 3). Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was one of the most famous ancient sculptures in Rome; it was much copied in marble, bronze and ceramic, for example in Wedgwood, especially in the second half of the eighteenth century. Small copies of the Borghese Vase were very often paired with copies of the equally admired Medici Vase in Florence. There are a number of other copies in National Trust collections, for example at Osterley Park (NT 771969) and Belton House (NT 435419). The small copies invariably add a pair of handles, missing from the original vase in the Louvre. The extreme translucency of the stone indicates that this vase is not, as previously thought, made of marble, but is rather made of alabaster stone. Compared to most other stones, alabaster is relatively soft and therefore easier to carve. It also has an attractive translucency and whiteness which at its best approaches the purity of marble, but it is very much less expensive than marble. For all these reasons, alabaster has long been used for the production of sculptures, often on a smallish scale and on a serial basis. In Italy, the main centres for the production of alabaster sculptures were Trapani in Sicily and, in Tuscany, Volterra, where this vase is very likely to have been made. It is very close in style to products made in the short-lived but highly influential factory opened in 1791 by Count Marcello Inghirami-Fei, which was in operation until 1799, and made statuettes as well as reliefs and functional objects (Cozzi 1986, pp. 9-53). It was one of around ten alabaster workshops operating in Volterra at this time. A printed catalogue, described as a ‘Manifeste’, published in 1792 (Cozzi 1986, pp. 14-15), gives a vivid picture of the vast range and number of designs offered by the Inghirami workshops, which broadly reflect the Neo-classical fashions of the time. Although the Borghese Vase is not specifically mentioned in the Inghirami manifesto, it is almost certain to have been one of the famous ancient vases copied in the factory. The very first product listed in the manifesto was in fact ‘Ornamental vases, in different sizes and of the best models, imitating the ancient vases of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, etc. They are made in a single piece, with or without handles, and decorated either with low reliefs of figures, or ornaments in gilt-bronze; they are always made with the insides hollow and the walls extremely thin [‘Vases d’ornement, des diverses grandeurs, de meilleures formes, imitant les anciens Vases Grecs, Etrusques, Romains, &c. Ceux-ci s’executent unis, avec ou sans Anses, ornés, ou de bas-reliefs de figures, ou d’ornements en bronze doré ; ils sont toujours vuides en dedans et tirés très minces.’]. In his factory, which was forced to close in 1799 amidst of the political and economic turmoil caused by the French invasion of Tuscany, Inghirami greatly raised the quality and sophistication of the products. Following the closure of the Inghirami factory, therefore, its workmen continued elsewhere in Volterra to make highly refined sculptural products in alabaster. It would seem likely that the two extremely fine large alabaster vases at Mount Stewart were made therefore in the early decades of the nineteenth century. The Borghese Dancers vase was recorded in the Boudoir at Londonderry House in 1939, already adapted for electricity and use as a lamp. There may have been other similar vases at Londonderry House. The inventory of 24 Hertford Street, the Londonderrys’ secondary London residence, drawn up in 1949 after the death of the 7th Marquess, included as well as various marble vases, a tall alabaster vase with mask ornament and ‘a tall vase carved with figures of Cupids’, described as broken. This may be the second of the two vases now at Mount Stewart (NT 1221059). Neither vase is recorded in the list of property transferred to Mount Stewart in 1962 after the sale of Londonderry House, so they may have been brought over from London before then. Also at Mount Stewart, in the Black and White Hall, is a set of another four alabaster vases, also adapted for lighting, which seem to be later in date (NT 1221030.1-4). Jeremy Warren September 2022
Provenance
Londonderry House; by descent to Lady Mairi Bury (1921-2009), by whom given to the National Trust in 1976.
Makers and roles
Volterran School, sculptor
References
Londonderry House 1939: A Catalogue and Valued Inventory of the Furniture and Works of Art at Londonderry House, Park Lane, W... Prepared for the purposes of insurance, with historical notes, by H. Clifford-Smith, 1939, p. 79, the Boudoir Cozzi 1986: Mauro Cozzi, Alabastro. Volterra dal settecento all’art deco, Florence 1986 Coliva 2011: Anna Coliva et al, I Borghese e l’Antico, exh. cat., Galleria Borghese, Rome 2011