20TH CENTURY

The present vases are modelled after the celebrated Antique marble original 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, which depicts Ulysses, Agamemnon and Iphigenia, is typically paired with the 'Borghese' vase which was excavated in the 16h century, transferred to the Villa Borghese in Rome and purchased from the Borghese family by the Emperor Napoleon in 1807. It was subsequently transferred to the Louvre in Paris where it remains today. 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.