PORTLAND VASE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 49, Issue 198, 7 June 1929, Page 7

PORTLAND VASE.

RARE ROMAN TREASURE TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION

The news that the celebrated Portland Vase was offered at auction came as a surprise to those who know something of its beauty and value, even in such a distant country as New Zealand. This vase is one of the most famous antiques of tire world j and because it has so long b.een exhibited on loan in the British Museum, in London, most people had come to regard it almost as a national possession. . It was bought in Italy by Sir William Hamilton, the foster-brother of George 111. and husband of the notable Lady Hamilton, so that from early days it has been in the hands of illustrious owners.

| The fear is that this uniquo piece will, like so many other British treasures, pass to the United States. The rapacity of the British tax gatherer and the enormous wealth of the American millionaire are two influences which make for the export of similar objects. It is true thatartistic treasures in Great Britain 'are no longer subject to the death duties, but the pressure of the income tax. and super-tax, combined with the heavy death duties, on what were once wealthy estates has proved almost irresistible. Picture after picture, manuscript after manuscript, is leaving the shores of. Old England, and even the very buildings are being torn down and exported.

Its History. On March 7 last the "Daily Mail" stated that the world-famous and historic vase of antique glass known as the Portland Vase, which belongs to the Duke of Portland, is to be sold at Christie's on May 2, after being for 118 years exhibited on loan at tne British Museum. The Portland Vase, which is about 10 inches high and made of wonderful deep-blue glass with white opaque figures upon it of truly remarkable workmanship, was discovered near Rome between 1623 and 1.644. What its age is no one knows. A mound of earth about three miles from the city, was found to contain a large vault, and in this vault the vase was found filled with [ashes. Records prove that it was deposited in the vault in A.D. 235, and it is believed that the ashes were those of the Emperor Severus. Pope Urban VIII. caused it to be dug up, and for more than 100 years it was one of the treasures of the Barberini Palace in Rome.

Sold for £IB9O. Toward the end of the 18th century it was brought by Sir William Hamilton, husband of the famous Lady Hamilton. He later sold it to Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Portland, for £IB9O. When the duchess's famous' museum was dispersed the vase was bought by her son, the third Duke of Portland, for £1029. In 1810 that duke deposited it on loan in the British Museum, and there it has remained. There is no more popular object in the museum, and Americans in particular , come in their thousands every year to see it.

In 18-15, through an act of vandalism, this wonderful specimen of Roman art was smashed to fragments, but so cleverly was it repaired that little of its original beauty has been lost. A man named William Lloyd, who was employed at the museum, got drunk one day, picked up a Babylonian stone, and threw it at the case containing the Portland Vase. Ho smashed case and vase to bits.

Thirty years ago there were American collectors ready to pay £IO,OOO and more to secure the vase, but all offers have up to now been rejected, and * most visitors to the British Museum had come to look upon the vase as a national possession. That it should now, after 118 years, leave Great Britain is almost unthinkable, and already various proposals have been put forward to prevent this from happening. A large sum will undoubtedly be required to secure it when it appears in the saleroom, and it remains to be seen whether, as in the case of Holbein's "Duchess of Milan," some private individual will come forward and save this unique piece for the nation.