The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Matte, black vase with a wide body, narrowing at the neck before flaring at the rim. Handles flank the neck, curving down at right angles to connect with the base. On the base, a white scene depicts a standing person taking the arm of another, seated on the ground looking back at them, a snake-like creature in their lap. Right, another nude person braces one foot on a tree. Above, a winged child flies.

Portland Vase

c.1790

Josiah Wedgwood and Sons

(Britain, Staffordshire, est. 1759)
England, Staffordshire
jasperware with applied decoration
Overall: 26.4 x 17.8 cm (10 3/8 x 7 in.)
Gift of Mrs. L. E. Holden 1918.823
Location: 203A British Painting and Decorative Arts

Did You Know?

While the scene depicted here is not known for certain, many scholars believe that the Portland Vase portrays the wedding of Peleus and Thetis from Greek mythology.

Description

The original Portland Vase is a Roman antiquity, made of dark-blue glass, dating from the first century AD. Such a rare archaeological find fascinated aristocratic collectors and artists alike, and eventually the vase came into the hands of the 3rd Duke of Portland in the 1780s. Around 1790 the duke lent the vase to the potter Josiah Wedgwood to make exact replicas in ceramic, of which the Cleveland example is one of the first editions. Eventually, the 4th Duke of Portland deposited the original Roman vase in the British Museum, where it resides today.
  • 1918-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Irwin, David G. Neoclassicism. London: Phaidon, 1997. Mentioned: p. 173, fig. 101 library.clevelandart.org
    Arendsee, M. and M. Steinman-Arendsee. "Take the CAN disability aesthetics tour, at the Cleveland Museum of art." CAN Journal (Winter 2019/20): 76-87. Reproduced & mentioned: p. 79
  • British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
    Collecting Drawings in England. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 1987-January 17, 1988).
    No legacy exhibitions.
  • {{cite web|title=Portland Vase|url=false|author=Josiah Wedgwood and Sons|year=c.1790|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1918.823