Viola Frey (1933-2004, USA) 

Portland Vase
ca 1985
Bronze; ht. 11 in.

Frey was obsessed with the famed Portland Vase, a Roman cameo glass antiquity that has become one of the most famous objects in the world. It was brought to England by Sir William Hamilton who later sold it to the dowager Duchess of Portland (hence its name). The 3rd Duke of Portland lent it to Josiah Wedgwood to make a jasperware replica in black and white which became the world's first limited edition ceramic. It was eventually adopted as the logo for the Wedgwood pottery. Wedgwood put the first edition on private show in 1790 and visitor numbers were restricted by only printing 1900 tickets which only fueled more interest. Then it went off to be shown in the royal capitals of Europe. The damaged rim in Frey's work refers to the destruction of the original glass vase, shattered by a drunken student. It went through three restorations, the last in 1988 was highly publicized and amazingly successful. All of these factors, the transference from glass to clay, the vase's celebrity, and its brushes with mortality, intrigued Frey for whom the work became something of a leitmotif, turning up on her plates, frequently in her paintings, in her monumental sculptures as a giant urn, often with the artist peering in its vast interior. The front cartouche represents the original Portland Vase jasperware figures while the reverse side has Frey's own figurative painting.

Reference: To see other examples of Frey's use of the vase, see Taragain, Davira and Sims, Patterson. Bigger, Better, More: The Art of Viola Frey. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2009, pp 102-3. 

Collection of Betty Asher and hence to current owner.

Excellent original condition.