Sir William Hamilton’s collection of classical antiquities served as the primary catalyst for Josiah Wedgwood’s design revolution which reshaped British ceramic production and taste in the late eighteenth century.
As British envoy to Naples, Hamilton amassed an extraordinary collection of ancient Greek and Roman pottery. He produced a series of lavishly illustrated folio volumes edited by Pierre-François Hugues d’Hancarville (1766–1767). Wedgwood acquired these volumes and used their hand-coloured plates as direct design templates for ornamental urns, bas-relief tablets, and his patented “encaustic” painting technique, which replicated the matte, iron-red and black finishes of classical red-figure pottery.
The original Portland Vase, also known as the Barberini Vase, was in the famous collection of the powerful Barberini family of Rome. The cameo glass (etched glass) vessel discovered in a Roman tomb but its early history is less certain. It was made of two layers of glass, dark-blue overlaid with white, which was carved away into a low-relief cameo, resulting in white figures on a darker background.
The vase came to Britain in the hands of Sir William Hamilton, and became an overnight sensation in Britain. The prolific collector Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, bought the vase from Hamilton in 1784.
Wedgwood’s single-mindedness prompted him to write to the Duke of Portland, requesting to borrow the vase so that he could copy it in jasper – a unique type of stoneware clay first developed by Josiah I in the 1770s.
“You will be pleased, I am sure, to hear what a treasure is just now put into my hands, I mean the exquisite Barberini vase with which you enriched this island, and which, now … we may call … the Portland vase…”
Wedgwood’s Portland Vase is one of the most well-known Wedgwood ceramic designs. It demonstrates a level of craftsmanship and detail which makes it an excellent example of British skill and creativity. In the 18th century, the original glass vase was considered one of the greatest works of art of antiquity. For Wedgwood, the process of creating his own version meant surpassing the arts of the ancient world. He believed that by copying a piece widely regarded as a pinnacle of Roman craft, he could show the technical and artistic superiority of his own ceramics factory.
Sources:
https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/josiah-wedgwoods-portland-vase?srsltid=AU7gw4XN_fxSaP_1d8ja46YejaDF-pi48m1-lFul-Fff5GaI8opRTRJj
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1945-0927-1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Vase
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00268hz
