Ceramics Books and Magazines

Author: Robin Brooks
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$13.95~~
Buy New: $2.54
You Save: $11.41 (82%)

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

2 reviews
Sales Rank: 1124235

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.8

ISBN: 0060511001
Dewey Decimal Number: 709
EAN: 9780060511005

Publication Date: August 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New & Unread Book that Have Remainder Mark/ May Have Slight Handling Wear From Bookstore Shelf. IN-STOCK Now For Immediate Secure Packaging & Delivery!

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - The Portland Vase: The Extraordinary Odyssey of a Mysterious Roman Treasure
•	Paperback - The Portland Vase: The Extraordinary Odyssey of a Mysterious Roman Treasure
•	Kindle Edition - Portland Vase, The
•	Hardcover - The Portland Vase : The Extraordinary Odyssey of a Mysterious Roman Treasure

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description

For thousands of years an enigmatic and astonishingly beautiful piece of Roman art has captivated those who have come in contact with it.Made before the birth of Christ, the Portland Vase, as it is called, is renowned for both its beauty and its mystery.

In The Portland Vase, Robin Brooks takes us on a vivid journey across Europe and through the centuries, as this delicate piece of glass, less than ten inches in height, passes through the hands of a stunning cast of characters, including the first Roman emperor, Augustus; a notorious tomb raider; a reckless cardinal; a princess with a nasty gambling habit; the ceramics genius Josiah Wedgwood; the secretive Duchess of Portland; and a host of politicians, dilettantes, and scam artists.

Rich with passion, inspiration, jealousy, and endless speculation, the story of The Portland Vase spans more than two thousand years and remains one of the art world's greatest enigmas.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

The History of the Greatest Roman Glasswork October 12, 2004
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Prospective buyers of the most expensive artworks are always told to examine the provenance of an object before buying. There are few works that can have the exclusive and eccentric list of owners as the Portland Vase has had. One of the most famous of ancient artworks, and now in the British Museum, it has fascinated historians, poets, mythologists, and potential owners ever since it came to light (probably by a grave robber in Rome) in 1582. In -The Portland Vase: The Extraordinary Odyssey of a Mysterious Roman Treasure_ (HarperCollins), Robin Brooks has given a biography of a unique object, not only telling its history and about the lives of those who owned and held it, but also about the centuries of unresolved argument about what the figures on the vase mean. It is an intriguing story that weaves through much of European history.

The vase itself is a little object, something less than ten inches tall. It is not pottery, like most ancient vases, but blue glass, decorated with white figures of classical male and female nudes. The argument about who they are includes Jupiter and Venus among the most frequently sighted, with Orpheus and Eurydice, Pluto, Castor and Pollux, and a host of others (including, anachronistically, the physician Galen). Once the vase left the family of Pope Urban VIII (sold to pay gambling debts) it belonged eventually to the successive Dukes of Portland. The fourth duke leant it to the British Museum, where it was smashed by a confused visitor in 1845. The 200 pieces and smaller shards were gathered up, and painstakingly glued together by the best restorer in the land. The vase is timeless, but repairs are temporary; it has been dismantled and re-repaired in 1949 and again forty years later.

The vase's story, told here with eagerness and amusement, is one full of surprises and brushes with famous admirers like Wedgwood, Keats, and Blake. There are three sections to the book, consisting of "The Lip" (the prologue), "The Body" (consisting of nineteen "fragments" where most of the history is given) and "The Base" (consisting of an epilogue). There thus does not seem to be any missing chapter, and the base of the vase, a separate piece, is discussed at different points within the fragments. There is much to be learned here about inheritance practices, tourism, museum culture, and art markets. The sixth duke asked for the vase back in 1929, when world finances were crashing, so he could sell it. It was expected to fetch at least 50,000, but failed, and went back to the museum. The seventh duke offered it for sale to the museum in 1944, for a song, 5,000, and there it remains. As Brooks writes, "Presumably the vase will stay in the museum until civilization, or London, or both, come to an end."

3 out of 5 stars

mystery missing chapter September 30, 2004
3 out of 8 found this review helpful

This was a great read - absolutely first class apart from a bunch of typos and the missing last chapter - there is a wonderfully easy to read, full of interesting connections narrative all the way to the last chapter, with a title page "The Base" but no chapter following. I was woefully disappointed as the base contains a carving so different from the rest of the vase and cannot possibly be a part of the original. Ah well, one is becoming accustomed to errors in typing - I suppose missing chapters are just the next step in slovenly publishing.

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