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Lot Essay
This pair represents two of the three Federal Vases, commissioned by Congress from Horatio Stone (1808-1875) to represent the renewed stability of the nation after the Civil War. Executed between 1868-1871 by the artist in his Italian studio, Stone was already well-known as a sculptor of several statues in Washington. $10,000 was initially appropriated by Congress for the bronze vases, but Stone never signed the prepared contract, and when he attempted to deliver the vases to the Capitol, Stone found that the money had been re-appropriated to the Treasury. The vases were shortly thereafter purchased by John Chipman Hoadley of Lawrence, Massachusetts, an affluent man with a penchant for the arts. After his death, they were purchased by subscription and presented to the Boston Art Club in June 1887.
The vases, all 'of heroic size,' and with individual themes of Philosophy, Invention, and the Republic, form an important message about the virtuous and dexterous foundation of the United States. The two included in this lot, Philosophy and Invention, are a pair, with the Republic vase, owned by the Claremont College Museum in Claremont, California, being considerably larger. Each vase is ornamented by the classical device a low relief procession, akin to ancient Greek vases and carving as in the Panethon. Indeed, the Philosophy vase includes many figures from Greek mythology, identified by inscriptions in the lower most register. This vase is intended to commemorate the development of ethical thought, and includes Prometheus, Orpheus, Homer, Aristides, Anaxagoras, Phidias, Socrates, and concludes with Christ, demonstrating the development of correct thinking as the foundation of civilization.
The mate to the Philosophy vase is that of Invention, which illustrates the career of freedom in the Western World. Here, a youth is presented with symbolic gifts from several figures: first Minerva with a lamp full of the sacred oil of knowledge, then Franklin with a key symbolizing electricity, Fulton with the design of the steamboat, and, finally, Morse with the electric telegraph. The combination of the moral foundation of the first vase combined with the inventive genius of the second support the Republic, as represented by the third vase. Half of the larger Republic vase is concerned with the foundation of the United States under Washington, and the other half with the re-establishment of the Union under newly elected President Grant with Washington, Lincoln and Farragut, reinforced by female figures representing Peace, Prosperity, and Progress.
The vases, all 'of heroic size,' and with individual themes of Philosophy, Invention, and the Republic, form an important message about the virtuous and dexterous foundation of the United States. The two included in this lot, Philosophy and Invention, are a pair, with the Republic vase, owned by the Claremont College Museum in Claremont, California, being considerably larger. Each vase is ornamented by the classical device a low relief procession, akin to ancient Greek vases and carving as in the Panethon. Indeed, the Philosophy vase includes many figures from Greek mythology, identified by inscriptions in the lower most register. This vase is intended to commemorate the development of ethical thought, and includes Prometheus, Orpheus, Homer, Aristides, Anaxagoras, Phidias, Socrates, and concludes with Christ, demonstrating the development of correct thinking as the foundation of civilization.
The mate to the Philosophy vase is that of Invention, which illustrates the career of freedom in the Western World. Here, a youth is presented with symbolic gifts from several figures: first Minerva with a lamp full of the sacred oil of knowledge, then Franklin with a key symbolizing electricity, Fulton with the design of the steamboat, and, finally, Morse with the electric telegraph. The combination of the moral foundation of the first vase combined with the inventive genius of the second support the Republic, as represented by the third vase. Half of the larger Republic vase is concerned with the foundation of the United States under Washington, and the other half with the re-establishment of the Union under newly elected President Grant with Washington, Lincoln and Farragut, reinforced by female figures representing Peace, Prosperity, and Progress.