A marble vase and cover on a wooden pedestal
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1750 - 1780
Materials
Marble vase and cover on a wooden pedestal
Measurements
715 mm (Height); 520 mm (Diameter)
Order this imageCollection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 772411.1
Summary
One of a pair of white solid marble baluster shaped vases with detachable cover at top and associated wooden pedestal. The vase is decorated throughout, mainly with gadrooning, acanthus and stylised palmettes. Two masks of fauns project from sides towards bottom. The form and decoration of the vase and its pair are based on the Medici Vase, a bronze reproduction of which is at Osterley (NT 771969.2), but more loosely than the companion pair of vases (NT 772412.1.1 and NT 772012.2.1). The faun masks are reminiscent of the applied heads on the Borghese Vase, a bronze reproduction of which is also at Osterley (771969.1). The main fields occupied by scenes of young boys (putti) playing; on one side two putti tumble on the ground, others at left and right, one holding a wine flask; on the other a putto, holding rod with wine flasks attached, rides a wine barrel, which is pulled by another, whilst a third carries a sack on his back. These compositions derived from similar figures and scenes invented and popularised by François Duquesnoy (1597-1643). Marble cover with urn and finial handle. White painted wooden pedestal. Three of the four faces of the square pedestal are decorated with applied carving consisting of a central motif of acanthus leaves, in front of which hangs swags of oak leaves with laurel pendants. The base has a bold moulding of ribbon and rosette round the top. The flat top has bead-and-reel, egg-and-dart and acanthus tip mouldings round the edge.
Provenance
First recorded in the 1782 inventory of Osterley Park House as in the Marble Hall. By descent to George Francis Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (1910–1998). Given to the National Trust in 1949 by George Francis Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (1910-1998).
Credit line
National Trust Collections (Osterley Park, The Jersey Collection)
References
Tomlin, 1986: Maurice Tomlin. “The 1782 inventory of Osterley Park.” Furniture History 22 (1986): pp.107-134., p.122 'Four elegant Marble Vases with Basic Relieve figures on carved and painted Pedestals'. List of the China at Osterley Park, Middlesex, and at Middleton Park Oxford. Scheduled and valued for exemption under the best advice obtainable July 1915., p. 306 Clifford Smith, H: An Inventory and Valuation of the Works of Art of the State Rooms at Osterley Park, Isleworth. London, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Art Library, 1939., p. 43