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Fragment of decorative carving in the form of a small vase(?)
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Fragment of decorative carving in the form of a small vase(?)
Greek marble, probably Pentelic marble
Height: 13cm
Circumference: 31cm
Circumference: 31cm
Museum number: M412
Vermeule catalogue number: Vermeule 259
Curatorial note
This small vase form is enriched with fluting, leaf ornament and the flowered bases of decorative "handles".
Whichever way this fragment stood, it undoubtedly, from the long iron shaft embedded in the turned end, served as part of a carved decorative ensemble, such as a 'pineapple cone'-topped decorative pinnacle on a 'candelabrum' or a carved base from which the crowning elements of a candelabrum-shaft sprang. The presence of the stylised handles and the adherence to conventions of carved vase enrichment suggest that as originally drawn and described (and as numbered in paint and as photographed) the 'solid case' carving is in the correct orientation.
Whichever way this fragment stood, it undoubtedly, from the long iron shaft embedded in the turned end, served as part of a carved decorative ensemble, such as a 'pineapple cone'-topped decorative pinnacle on a 'candelabrum' or a carved base from which the crowning elements of a candelabrum-shaft sprang. The presence of the stylised handles and the adherence to conventions of carved vase enrichment suggest that as originally drawn and described (and as numbered in paint and as photographed) the 'solid case' carving is in the correct orientation.
Provenance
Rome; collected by Charles Heathcote Tatham for the architect Henry Holland during the 1790s. See Cornelius Vermeule, unpublished catalogue of the Antiquities at Sir John Soane's Museum, Introduction, transcription of Tatham letters, list 3, no. 24.
Literature
Tatham: Drawings, 8.
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk