EARLY 19TH CENTURY

The present vases are modelled after the celebrated Antique marble originals believed to date from the first century A.D. The 'Medici' vase was first recorded at the Villa Medici in Rome in the late 16th century and is now in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The vase has been celebrated since the 17th century where it featured in many prints including one by Stefano della Bella dated 1656 which depicts the future Grand Duke Cosimo III drawing the vase. The model depicts Ulysses, Agamemnon and Iphigenia. The 'Borghese' vase which was excavated in the 16h century entered the collections of the Villa Borghese in Rome by 1645. It was bought from Prince Camillo Borghese in 1807 by his brother-in-law Napoleon Bonaparte and subsequently transferred to the Louvre in Paris where it remains today. When paired as here, it was customary for the copy of the Borghese vase to be given the krater form of the Medici vase when the original does not have handles. Both vases continued to achieve widespread fame particularly following the publication of engravings by Piranesi in his Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed ornamenti antichi (1778). They are regarded as being among the greatest surviving examples of Classical art.