RARE ROMAN TREASURE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 96, 27 April 1929, Page 20

RARE ROMAN TREASURE

TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION

Tho news that the celebrated Portland Vaso.is-to bo ofi'ered at auction noxt month.will come as a surpriso to those who know something of its beauty and value, even in such a distant country as New Zealand. This vase is ono of the most famous antiques of tlio world; and because it has so long been exhibited on loan in tho 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 unique piece ■will, like so many other British treasures, pass to the United States. The rapacity of tho 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 that artistic treasures in Great Britain are no longer subject to the death duties, but the pressure of tho ineonie tax and supertax, 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 building are being torn down and exported. ITS HISTORY. On 7th March last the "Daily Mail" stated that the world-famous and historic vase of antique glass known as the Portland Vase, which belongs to the Duko of- Portland, is to be sold at Christie's on 2nd May, after.being for 118 years exhibited on loan at the British Museum,'; "Tlio Portland Vase, which is about ten 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 .1644. . What its age'is no one knows. A mound of earth 'about three miles from the city was found to contain a largo vault, and in this vault the vase was found filled with ashes. Records prove that •'it was deposited in. tho vault in A.D. 235, and it is .believed that the ashes wore those, of the Emperor Sevorus.' : Pope Urban.. VIII. caused it to be dug lip, and for more than: 100 years it was' One.-of the; treasures of the Barberini'Palacc inßome. , , . . , ; SOLD FOR £1890. ' ' . Towards the end of the 18th century it was.bought by Sir;'ViJiHiam/Hamilton, husband of tlio'famous Lady Hamilton. He later sold, it to Margaret Cavendish,. Duchess'of Portland,-for £1890. When the ducliess's'famous museum was dispersed the vase was bought by her sou, tho 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 1 in particular come in, their thousands! every,year, to sec it. ; y . '.'• In 1545, 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 ono day, picked up a Babylonian stone, and threw it at the case containing the Portland Vase. He smashed ease and vase to bits. •. Thirty years ago there were American collectors ready to" pay £10,000- itnd more to secure the vase, but all. offers have up to now been rejected, and most visitors to tho 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 boon put forward to prevent this from happening. '.A large sum "will, undoubtedly be required.to 1 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," %ome private individual'will come for--ward and save this unique piece for the nation.