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Reminiscences 37 of 123
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the "Portland Vase" must hold the first place.
Pellat, in his work on
the incrustation of glass, states: "The most celebrated antique glass
vase is that which was during more than two centuries the principal
ornament of the Barberini Palace, and which is now known as the 'Portland
Vase.' It was found about the middle of the sixteenth century, enclosed
in a marble sarcophagus within a sepulchral chamber, under the
Monte del Garno,
two and a half miles from Rome, in the road to Frascati. It is
ornamented with white opaque figures in a bas-relief upon a dark
blue transparent ground. The subject has not heretofore received
a satisfactory elucidation, but the design and more especially the
execution are admirable. The whole of the blue ground, or at least the
part below the handles, must have originally been covered with white
enamel, out of which the figures have been sculpted in the style of a
cameo, with most astonishing skill and labor." The estimation in which
the ancient specimens of glass were held, is demonstrated by the fact that
the Duchess of Portland became the purchaser
of the celebrated vase which bears her name, at a price exceeding nine
thousand dollars, and bore away the prize from numerous competitors. The
late Mr. Wedgewood was
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