1-343-328 - Art Media/Heritage Images

The Portland Vase, c5-25 AD. Roman glass cameo vase. A partially clothed woman reclining under a tree. The general subject of the vase is love and marriage with a mythological theme. It may have been made as a wedding gift. It is not known exactly where and when the vase was found. It is recorded as being seen in 1601 when it was in the collection of Cardinal del Monte in Italy. After the cardinal's death it was bought by the Barberini family where it remained for 150 years. Eventually, in 1778, it was purchased by William Hamilton, British Ambassador at the Court of Naples. He brought it to England and sold it to Margaret, dowager Duchess of Portland, less than two years later, in 1784. In 1786 it came into the hands of her son, the third Duke of Portland, and it was he who lent it to Josiah Wedgwood, who made it famous through various copies. From the collection of the British Museum, London.