xx The Barberini or Portland Vase 263 



his object in endeavouring to possess the vase. " I wish 

 to copy it," answered Wedgwood. " Then, if you will 

 give over bidding," said the Duke, " I will let you have 

 the vase as long as you like, that you may effect your 

 object." This proposal was as frankly accepted as it was 

 frankly offered. The Duke became the purchaser of 

 the vase for 1029, and Wedgwood took with him to 

 Etruria the priceless gem. 



Then came the serious difficulty of copying the 

 Portland vase. He studied the work with minute 

 attention. He came to the conclusion that the figures 

 on the vase could not have been moulded separately, 

 and applied afterwards upon the body; but that the 

 body, which is a deep blue glass, had been coated over, 

 in part at least, while red hot, with a semi-transparent 

 white enamel, and the figures formed by cutting through 

 the coat down to the blue ground in the manner of real 

 cameos ; and that, by this mode of working, the artist 

 had been enabled to superadd to the exquisite beauty 

 of the sculpture, the effect of light and shade, by cutting 

 down the parts to greater or less thickness, according as 

 the shade was required to be deeper or lighter. By this 

 means the blue underneath was more or less visible 

 through the semi-transparent white relief. To work in 

 this manner a vase of such magnitude, so much time, 

 labour, and skill would be required for the production 

 of a single piece, that no modern artist, however capable 

 of the execution, would engage to perform the operation. 

 Some thought that Wedgwood's endeavour to produce 



