{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O156669"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O156669/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CC6206/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CC6206/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CC6206","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CC6213","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CC6208","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CC6207","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CC6199","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O156669/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O156669","accessionNumber":"LOAN:GILBERT.110-2008","objectType":"Vase","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. He donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.\n\nIn the 1700s and 1800s, vases were prized objects that highlighted their owner’s status. Makers employed innovative techniques, adapting materials to new shapes, like the use of glass mosaics on the curved marble surface of these vases. They were most likely given by Pope Pius VII to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte on the occasion of his coronation in December 1804.","physicalDescription":"One of a pair. White marble two-handled vase, the lower body with a band of vertical acanthus leaves carved in relief below a band inlaid with coloured lozenges and palmettes of jasper and lapis lazuli. Framed by incised colonnaded bands and rows of beading, the upper body displays a micromosaic frieze depicting two griffins each holding a vase. A candelabrum between the griffins supports two festoons of flowers, the ends of which are held up by two birds. The waisted neck is inlaid with varicoloured hardstones as are the handles.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"de Vecchis, Nicola","id":"A22359"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"},{"text":"hardstone","id":"x37572"},{"text":"mosaic glass","id":"AAT260731"},{"text":"jasper","id":"AAT11151"},{"text":"lapis lazuli","id":"AAT11122"},{"text":"chalcedony","id":"AAT11134"},{"text":"malachite","id":"AAT11123"},{"text":"quartz","id":"AAT11132"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"},{"text":"setting","id":"x42734"},{"text":"micromosaic","id":"x42499"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Marble, hardstone, micromosaic","categories":[{"text":"Vases","id":"THES48879"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2009CC6206","2009CC6213","2009CC6208","2009CC6207","2009CC6199"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"013","id":"THES409766"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"vase","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Rome","id":"x29106"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1795-1800","earliest":"1795-01-01","latest":"1800-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"LOAN:GILBERT.111-2008","id":"O156670"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"65.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"22","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"18160","unit":"g","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Updated with measurements taken 27/08/08","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Giacomo Raffaelli was a Roman mosaicist credited with the invention of a new technique which allowed the creation of mosaics with incredibly small pieces of glass in a seemingly infinite range of colours. He was a fantastic businessman and worked with his sons Vincenzo, Filippo, Giovanni, in designing, creating and developing his name through Europe. Based in Rome, he also had a shop in Milan and received commissions from European and Russian sovereigns, including Emperor Napoleon I, Empress Josephine, and King of Poland Stanislas August II Poniatowski (1732-1798). Raffaelli worked also in hardstones and bronze to create most fantastic pieces, from gold boxes to fireplace, jewellery to clocks, in the utmost neoclassical fashion.\n\nVases were one of his most sought-after objects, produced often in conjunction with a fireplace. Such presents were chosen by the sculptor Antonio Canova for Pope Pius VII among the gifts he was intending to give on the occasion of the imperial coronation of Napoleon as Emperor in December 1804. While the fireplace is still in the Château of Malmaison, the vases were sold after Napoleon’s fall in 1815. This present vase and its pair (Loan-Gilbert. 111-2008) were considered as the lost gifts, but the description in the inventory reads: ‘formés vers leur panse de tableaux mosaïques’ which refers to mosaic medallions into the body of the vase instead of a large frieze as here. \r\n\n<u>Provenance</u> \r\nBy tradition Pope Pius VII to Napoleon on the occasion of his coronation, December 1804.\r\nEmpress Josephine, Chateau de Malmaison.\r\nJacques Kugel, Paris, 1975.\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Vase, micromosaic, marble and hardstone, Rome, Nicola de Vecchis, 1795-1800.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Grandjean, S.  <u>Inventaire après décès de l' Impératrice Joséphine à Malmaison</u>. Paris: Ministère d'état - Affaires culturelles, 1964, p.197."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gonzalez-Palacios, Alvar. 'London: The Mosaics of the Gilbert Collection and new Aquisitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum', <u>Bolaffi arte</u>, no. 53, October 1975, ill. p. 19."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hillier, Bevis. 'The Gilbert Collection of Mosaics'. <u>The Connoisseur</u>, vol. 188, no. 758, April 1975, p. 62."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gonzalez- Palacios, Alvar. <u>The Art of Mosaics: Selections from the Gilbert Collection</u>, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1977, p. 143 , ill. cat. no. 23. ISBN: 0875870805"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Zucker, A.  'A great collection of tiny artistry- how it was made'. <u>Smithsonian</u>, May 1977, vol. 8, no. 2, p. 86."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gonzalez-Palacios, Alvar and Steffi Röttgen with essays by Steffi Röttgen, Claudia Przyborowski; essays and new catalogue material translated by Alla Theodora Hall. <u>The Art of Mosaics: Selections from the Gilbert Collection</u>. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1982. 224 p., ill. Cat. no. 24. ISBN 0875871097."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Richardson, Nancy. 'All About Style'. <u>House and Garden</u>, June 1985, vol.157, no.6.  New York: Condé Nast, pp. 54-8."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bertelli, Carlo, ed. <u>Mosaics</u>, New York: Gallery Books, 1988, p. 282."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wheeler, Daniel, ed. with introduction by Alexis Gregory. <u>Princely Taste: Treasures from Great Private Collections</u>. Exhibition catalogue, Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1995, vol. 369, ill. p. 77."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gabriel, Jeanette Hanisee with contributions by Anna Maria Massinelli and essays by Judy Rudoe and Massimo Alfieri. <u>Micromosaics: The Gilbert Collection</u>. London: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd. in association with The Gilbert Collection, 2000. 310 p., ill. Cat. no. 13, pp. 65-66. ISBN 0856675113."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Schroder, Timothy, ed. <u>The Gilbert Collection at the V&A</u>. London (V&A Publishing) 2009, p. 81, pl. 64. ISBN9781851775934"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Grandjean, S.  <u>Inventaire après décès de l' Impératrice Josèphine à Malmaison</u>. Paris: Ministère d'état - Affaires culturelles, 1964, p.197."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gonzalez-Palacios, Alva. 'London: The Mosaics of the Gilbert Collection and new Aquisitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum', <u>Bolaffi arte</u>, no. 53, October 1975, ill. p. 19."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hillier, Bevis. 'The Gilbert Collection of Mosaics'. <u>The Connoisseur</u>, vol. 188, no. 758, April 1975, p. 62."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Zucker, A.  'A great collection of tiny artistry- how it was made'. <u>Smithsonian</u>, May 1977, vol. 8, no. 2, p.86."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gonzalez-Palacios, Alvar and Steffi Röttgen with essays by Steffi Röttgen, Claudia Przyborowski; essays and new catalogue material translated by Alla Theodora Hall. <u>The Art of Mosaics: Selections from the Gilbert Collection</u>. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1982. 224 p., ill. Cat. no. 24. ISBN 0875871097."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Schroder, Timothy, ed. <u>The Gilbert Collection at the V&A</u>. London (V&A Publishing) 2009, p. 81, plate 64. ISBN9781851775934"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Massinelli, Anna Maria. <u>Giacomo Raffaelli (1753-1836), Maestro di stile e di mosaic</u>. Florence: Aska Edizioni, 2018, fig.98, p.95."}],"production":"Inspired by ancient Roman mosaics, possibly from Baths of the Seven Sages, Ostia.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"acanthus","id":"AAT164902"},{"text":"lozenges","id":"AAT9791"},{"text":"palmettes","id":"AAT9995"},{"text":"beading","id":"AAT54013"},{"text":"griffins","id":"x30123"},{"text":"vase","id":"x31506"},{"text":"festoons","id":"AAT167386"},{"text":"flowers","id":"x35571"},{"text":"birds","id":"x35043"},{"text":"anthemions","id":"AAT9982"},{"text":"butterflies","id":"x30135"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"3, 5. Vases with griffins\n1795-1800\n\nIn the 1700s and 1800s, vases were prized objecats that highlighted their owner's status. Makers employed innovative techniques, adapting materials to new shapes, like the use of glass mosaics on the curved marble surface of these vases. These vases were supposedly chosen by the Venetian sculptor Antonio Canova as gifts for Pope Pius VII to offer to Napoleon Bonaparte.\n\nRome, Italy; Niccola de Vecchis (died 1834) for Giacomo Raffaelli\nGlass micromosaic, marble, malachite, lapis lazuli, gilded bronze\nMuseum nos. Loan:Gilbert 110, 111-2008","date":{"text":"2024","earliest":"2024-01-01","latest":"2024-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["LOAN:GILBERT.110-2008"],"accessionNumberNum":"110","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:GILBERT","accessionYear":2008,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"MM 200A"},{"type":{"text":"The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House","id":"THES50384"},"number":"1996.854"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-13","recordCreationDate":"2008-06-19","availableToBook":false}}