An alabaster vase with putti playing, adapted for use as a lamp
Volterran School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1800 - 1830
Materials
marble, brass and processed material
Measurements
1004 mm (H); 343 mm (Dia)
Place of origin
Volterra (Italy)
Order this imageCollection
Mount Stewart, County Down
NT 1221059
Summary
Sculpture, alabaster; a vase with a scene of putti playing; Italian, Volterra; c. 1800-1830. A finely carved tall and narrow vase in translucent alabaster, with neo-classical decoration, including a scene with small children (putti) playing. Adapted for use as a lamp.
Full description
An alabaster vase in an elegant urn form, with a relief of putti playing. In the main body is the central scene, with a small child lying on a couch, behind him a kneeling winged putto. The child turns his head away and raises his arm in alarm, as a second winged putto approaches from the right, bearing in his hands a grotesque mask. This scene is framed by a curtain of slim vertical ribs which extend all the way round the vase. Above the main field, a frieze of vine leaves and Medusa heads, above this a frieze with pairs of facing winged monsters with scaly tails, holding a wreath in their claws. The neck of the urn is plain with, in the middle, a scrolling floral frieze, whilst at the lip is another frieze of leaf decoration. Below the main scene a frieze of acanthus decoration, with the ends of the leaves projecting and curling, below this the plainer base, adorned with just two friezes of palmette decoration. Mounted on brass ball feet. Now adapted for electric light. The vase has been broken and is heavily repaired, with cracks evident in the main body of the vase and in the base section. The main scene with a winged male child carrying a grotesque mask and playing the bogeyman, frightening another small child, is a revisiting in Neo-classical taste of an antique Roman concept, which became popular again in the fifteenth century early Renaissance period, when the children, both playful but also menacing, became known as spiritelli. 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. 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. The quality of alabaster products made in Volterra was greatly improved in the late eighteenth century thanks to 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. The very first product listed in the manifesto was ‘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, its workmen continued elsewhere in Volterra to make highly refined sculptural products in alabaster. This is one of two extremely fine large alabaster vases at Mount Stewart, the other a copy of the celebrated colossal marble known as the Borghese Vase (NT 1221051). It is probable that both were made in Volterra in the early decades of the nineteenth century, and both may have long formed part of the furnishings of Londonderry House in London. The Borghese Dancers vase was recorded in the Boudoir at Londonderry House in 1939, already adapted for electricity and use as a lamp. The urn with putti is not recorded in 1939, but in an inventory of 24 Hertford Street, the Londonderrys’ secondary London residence, drawn up in 1949 after the death of the 7th Marquess, it is listed alongside various marble vases, a tall alabaster vase with mask ornament and ‘a tall vase carved with figures of Cupids’, described as broken. 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 brought over 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 October 2022
Provenance
Probably Londonderry House; Lady Mairi Bury (1921-2009), by whom given to the National Trust in 1976
Makers and roles
Volterran School, sculptor
References
24 Hertford Street 1949: Inventory and Valuation of the Contents of Londonderry House, 24, Hertford Street, W. The property of the Most Honourable the Marquess of Londonderry… deceased. Prepared for the purpose of probate by H. Clifford-Smith. 1949., p. 44. Cozzi 1986: Mauro Cozzi, Alabastro. Volterra dal settecento all’art deco, Florence 1986