History
The earliest records of cameo glass come from fragments of a variety of vessels, large wall plaques, and small jewelry items in cameo glass made by the Romans during the Augustan and Julio-Claudian periods, from 27 B.C. to 68 A.D.
The popularity of cameo glass in early imperial times was clearly inspired by the gems and vessels carved out of sardonyx that were highly prized in the royal courts of the Hellenistic East. A highly skilled gem carver could cut down layers of overlay glass to such a degree that the background color would come through, successfully duplicating the effects of sardonyx and other naturally veined stones. However, glass had a distinct advantage over semi-precious stones because craftsmen were not constrained by the random patterns of the veins of natural stone but could create layers wherever they needed to produce the desired effect.
It is unclear how the Romans created large vessels and plaques, it is assumed that the familiar flashing process, dipping one gather of glass into another pot of molten glass, was used although cupping, a more reliable, modern process and that used by Pargeter, could have been used. The favourite colour scheme was an opaque white over a translucent blue ground, although other colours have been found including multi-coloured layers that produced a pleasing effect.
The most famous Roman cameo glass vessel is the Barberini or Portland Vase, now held in the British Museum, which is rightly considered one of the crowning achievements of the entire Roman glass industry. The original vase was rediscovered in about 1582 near a marble sarcophagus on excavation of a burial chamber in a mound known as the Monte del Grano, a few miles southeast of the old city wall of Rome.The decoration was thought to represent the classical myth of the marriage of “Peleus and Thetis“. Another and more plausible version put forward by Dr Darwin is that of a representation of mortal and immortal life, a subject more fitting for a cinerary vase. (See conservation video for similar explanation.)
The vase was reportedly seen in the Palazzo Madama belonging to Cardinal Francesco del Monte in 1600. In 1626 it was sold for 500 scudi to the nephew of Pope Urban VIII, Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1597-1679). In 1780 it was sold, to pay for gambling debts of Donna Cordelia Barberini-Colonna, Princess of Palestrina. The buyer was a Scotsman resident in Rome, James Byres (1733-1817), architect, antiquarian and occasional art dealer, who sold it in late 1782 for £1000 to the ambassador of Naples Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803), who brought the vase from Italy to England. In 1784 Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (1715–1785), who was described by Horace Walpole as “a simple woman, but perfectly sober and intoxicated only by empty vases“, bought the vase from Hamilton. The vase remained in the family, as it was bought by her son the Third Duke of Portland (1738–1809), after her death.
A newspaper report in the General Advertiser published during the sale on 26th April 1786 described the damaged condition:
the vase has been broken in three pieces, and its original bottom was most certainly destroyed.
The majority opinion was that original shape was that of an amphora with a lid and pointed base and that it now lacks the beauty of an amphora.