Warwick vase

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Warwick vase in “Role Models for Manufacturers and Craftsmen”, 1821

The original Warwick vase is an ornate marble object from the early 2nd century that was found in Italy in 1771. Since then, it has been regarded as one of the representative motifs for the decorative art of Roman antiquity . In the 19th century in particular, it was reproduced in large numbers and in different sizes and materials.

The original

The Warwick vase was found in 1771 on the grounds of the villa of the Emperor Hadrian (76-138) near Tivoli , about 25 km northeast of Rome in several fragments. Its discoverer was the English painter Gavin Hamilton , who supplemented his income as an artist through archaeological activities and through the trade in antiques . Shortly afterwards the English ambassador to Naples and collector of antiquities Sir William Hamilton bought the vase. He invested 300 English pounds for the purchase and for the complicated restoration , which took about two years - according to today's value (2008) around 30,000 pounds, around 45,000 euros. In 1774 he brought the vase to England. The British Museum in London turned down a purchase, thereupon Hamilton arranged his nephew George, Earl of Warwick , to buy the antique; since then it has been known as the Warwick vase. It was housed in a purpose-built garden building in Warwick Castle , County Warwickshire , Central England for about 200 years. There is now a copy at this point. The original was purchased by the Burrell Collection in Glasgow in 1979 and can be viewed there.

The vase was created between 118 and 133 years, it is 170 cm high and 211 cm wide including the handle. In its original size, it is therefore not a vessel for flowers, but rather a decorative element of garden architecture . The two handles each consist of two strands of intertwined vines , which continue below the edge with leaves and fruits. The underside of the body is covered with acanthus leaves. Above the fur of a big cat with head and claws, the wall is decorated with half and full plastic heads - with satyr masks , a Silenus and the head of Dionysus . The back is designed in the same way, but instead of Dionysus there is an image of his wife Ariadne . This woman's head is an addition that was apparently made by an Italian sculptor in the 18th century; in the judgment of contemporaries he bears the features of Lady Emma Hamilton , wife of the envoy in Naples and lover of Admiral Horatio Nelson . As a result of personal differences, the restorer is said to have provided her head with the pointed ear of a faun . The shape and decoration of the monumental vessel is an imitation of traditional drinking vessels in antiquity. Imitations of such vessels have existed since the late Hellenistic period, they were made until the later Roman Empire and were preferably placed in gardens and porticos.

Gustav Friedrich Waagen , director of the picture gallery of the Royal Museum in Berlin, reports in his book “Artworks and Artists in England” from 1938 about his impressions in Warwick Castle: “But now I really wanted to see the famous Warwick vase, which in larger and larger smaller repetitions are so common in Berlin now. It is set up on a fairly high pedestal near the castle, in the middle of a greenhouse, and the effect of the vessel made of the most beautiful white marble ... really surprising. In terms of size, shape and excellence of the work, it is the most important thing we have from antiquity in the form of craters , or such vessels, in which the ancients used to mix their wine. ... The current count seems to enjoy this wonderful property for a fee, because, as the steward told me, the family tends to have tea in this greenhouse more often. "

The replicas

The cast iron copy in the Altes Museum Berlin

The ancient work of art gained early popularity throughout Europe through three widespread copper engravings that the famous draftsman Giovanni Battista Piranesi made of it and included in his collective work “Vasi, candelabri, cippe, sarcophagi, tripodi ed ornamenti antichi” (1778), as well as through a description that appeared in Gentlemen's Magazine in 1780. When Napoleon planned the conquest of Great Britain, the Warwick vase was one of the objects of his desire - after the hoped-for victory he wanted to have it displayed as a trophy in the Louvre in Paris . Soon there was a widespread need to produce replicas of the vase - a considerable technical challenge given the highly differentiated shape of the original and the possibilities at the time. Probably the first usable copy was made in 1820 by Sir Edward Thomason, a craftsman in Birmingham , who issued a commemorative medal on the occasion.

In Prussia , fashion began a little later. As early as 1821, two views of the Warwick vase based on drawings by Johann Mathäus Mauch were included in the models for manufacturers and craftsmen , a collection of samples initiated by Christian Peter Wilhelm Beuth and Karl Friedrich Schinkel to support the beginning industrialization with aesthetic suggestions . On his trip to England in 1826 Schinkel saw a replica of the vase in the Thomason foundry in Birmingham and expressed himself very disparagingly about the quality of this work. Nevertheless, one of these casts, brought back from England by Johann Friedrich Krigar , the inspector of the Königliche Eisengießerei Berlin , from an information trip, served as a template for three scaled-down mold models in different sizes, one each for the Prussian iron foundries in Berlin, Gleiwitz in Silesia and Sayn near Koblenz went. As a gift at the turn of the year 1827/28, King Friedrich Wilhelm III. a cast-iron specimen, which was lined with gilded copper sheet . At the Academy Exhibition in Berlin in 1828, the Warwick vase was shown as a cast iron, but also as a centerpiece in chased and cast silver - a work by the court jeweler Johann Georg Hossauer on the occasion of the wedding of Prince Carl of Prussia. The presentation of these two pieces triggered a strong, long-lasting demand, and more replicas could be seen at the Berlin trade shows of 1879 and 1896. The vase was cast in iron, zinc and bronze in various sizes , not only the three Prussian state companies were involved, but also, for example, the Carlshütte near Rendsburg and some foundries in the Harz Mountains . An impressive example from a Russian foundry, roughly two-thirds the original size, came to the Prussian King in Berlin in 1834 as a gift from Tsar Nicholas I and has since stood on a staircase in the Altes Museum am Lustgarten . In the pleasure ground of Branitzer park near Cottbus prince had Hermann von Pückler-Muskau in 1850 a small copy of the Warwick Vase up that adorns the grave of his favorite dog. - At the beginning and the middle of the 19th century, images of the vase were a popular element for decorating porcelain items , especially as a central motif for tableware.

Interest in the Warwick vase has not completely died down in the 21st century. Replicas from the 19th century are offered in the antique trade. Businesses in Europe and the USA deliver new products in bronze or terracotta for decorating the house, garden and swimming pool. The trophy of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne 2006 goes back to the ancient form.

literature

  • Eva Schmidt: The Prussian iron art casting. Technology - history - works - artists . Gebr. Mann Verl., Berlin 1981, ISBN 978-3-7861-1130-6 , pp. 163-165.
  • Elisabeth Bartel, Annette Bossmann (ed.): Iron times. A chapter of Berlin's industrial history . Verl. Arenhövel, Berlin 2007 (= from the collections of the Stadtmuseum Berlin Foundation), ISBN 978-3-922912-67-5 , pp. 87–93. (Exhibition catalog; exhibition "Iron Times - A Chapter of Berlin Industrial History", Ephraim-Palais, October 20, 2007 to March 2, 2008; Berlin)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Warwick Castle, Warwickshire ( Memento from June 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), report on the Warwick vase, database The DiCamillo Companion (English)
  2. Garden ornaments (including a detailed photo of the Warwick vase)