Early Glass Reproduction Attempts
The first attempt to reproduce the Portland Vase is described in the Memoirs of the prominent Birmingham manufacturer Sir Edward Thomason (1769-1849). The Portland Vase, he wrote, “so much astonished me, and also Mr Biddle, of the Birmingham Heath Glass Works, that we made many trials to accomplish this art, but all to no purpose. The clever workmen did succeed in blowing the classical vase in contour, and in attaching to it a pair of handles, but we could not succeed in covering the vase with the white opaque glass, the degree in temperature essential to form the liquid white glass induced the white opaque, at the instant an attempt was made to put it on or surround the purple (sic), to force the prple to give way from the heat and to crack it in endless striae and crush it into chaos of confusion. The Portland Vase thus exhibits one instance of superior skills by the ancients.”
Sir Edward Thomason in his memoirs misremembered the name of the factory. Mr Biddle was John Biddle, who in partnership with David Lloyd, owned the Park Glass House in Birmingham, Heath from about 1808 to at least 1822.
Apsley Pellatt
In 1847 Apsley Pelatt II delivered a lecture utilising a small furnace for demonstration purposes of the techniques he would discuss. One technique was to cover a white toilette bottle with blue about the thickness of an egg-shell.
At a second lecture in 1848 it was reported by the Athenæum “Mr Pellatt exhibited a vase of the exact size and shape of the Portland Vase – having a thick exterior coating of dark blue glass on which white enamel glass casing was laid. The engraver had cut away portions of the white, leaving masses of blue on the neck and upper part of the vase exposed to view; and had chased out at the lathe, and with the engraving tool, a portion of the bas-relief. This vase was manufactured at the Falcon Glass Works. …. (Mr Pellatt) took this occasion of declaring that if any British engraver of adequate skill should propose to make an exact copy in glass of the Portland Vase, his firm would undertake the manufacture of the vessel.”
This unfinished vase was exhibited at various Royal Institutes and seemed to demonstrate the production technique rather than be a copy of the actual Portland Vase.
Franz Paul Zach
The Bohemian engraver Franz Paul Zach produced two versions of the Portland Vase, one can be found in the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, and the other in The Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, England. They were reportedly made in 1862 and comprised of his preferred translucent blue glass over flint. Although the blue glass is removed to produce the decoration in relief the surface of the blue is engraved to produce the details and highlights on the subjects. The vases are signed F. Zach to the base.
Engraved replica of the Portland Vase employing translucent blue glass over flint. Executed by Franz P. Zach, dated c.1862. Image courtesy of the Corning Museum of Glass, New York.