Lot Essay
This exotically-swagged cinerary-urn of Egyptian porphyry typifies the rare antiquities sought by connoisseurs on the Grand Tour for the garnishing of 'Roman' chimneypieces or marble-topped tables. Such garnitures were popularised in the 1750's by the architect James Stuart (d.1788) and later by the engravings of G.B. Piranesi in his Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi, 1778. This urn was almost certainly acquired by John, 3rd Earl of Bute in Italy during his travels of 1768-9 and 1769-71, on which he assembled an extensive architectural library to which he referred in a letter to Thomas Worsley - 'I have a great collection of drawings of Architecture made in the three years I was in Italy', as well as bronzes, Italian pictures and specimen larva and minerals. (F. Russell, John 3rd Earl of Bute: Patron and Collector, forthcoming, p.98.) His taste was, however, mirrored by that of his son, and thus it may alternatively have been acquired by Lord Mountstuart for Cardiff Castle either on his Grand Tour of 1764-5, or when Ambassador in Turin from 1779-80.
Its form is extremely closely related to the porphyry urn, retaining its socle, in the Palazzo Doria-Pamhilj, Rome (illustrated in A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Fasto Romano, Rome, 1991, no. 167, p. 208). Although published by Delbrüich as a Roman 'antiquity' of the 1st Century A.D, the Doria Pamphilj urn is in fact almost certainly of 17th Century Roman manufacture. The accounts of the Doria Pamphilj family record thirteen payments, totalling 130 scudi, between 1646-7 to the scalpellino or stonecutter Silvio Calci, also called Silvio da Velletri, for a porphyry vase supplied to the Villa Belrespiro.
Although this design was earlier employed in 1590 for the fountain before the Chiesa Nuova, it was taken up again by scalpellino in the 17th Century, as can be seen by the further related porphyry vases in the Louvre (inv. MR2883), the set of four at Versailles (recorded there in the inventory of 1850, nos. 2431, 2434, 2436) and the two on loan to the Musée National du château d'Ecouen (Inv. OA9235).
Its form is extremely closely related to the porphyry urn, retaining its socle, in the Palazzo Doria-Pamhilj, Rome (illustrated in A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Fasto Romano, Rome, 1991, no. 167, p. 208). Although published by Delbrüich as a Roman 'antiquity' of the 1st Century A.D, the Doria Pamphilj urn is in fact almost certainly of 17th Century Roman manufacture. The accounts of the Doria Pamphilj family record thirteen payments, totalling 130 scudi, between 1646-7 to the scalpellino or stonecutter Silvio Calci, also called Silvio da Velletri, for a porphyry vase supplied to the Villa Belrespiro.
Although this design was earlier employed in 1590 for the fountain before the Chiesa Nuova, it was taken up again by scalpellino in the 17th Century, as can be seen by the further related porphyry vases in the Louvre (inv. MR2883), the set of four at Versailles (recorded there in the inventory of 1850, nos. 2431, 2434, 2436) and the two on loan to the Musée National du château d'Ecouen (Inv. OA9235).