Vase with Serpent-Shaped Handles Sprouting from Medusa Heads

Collections

European Sculpture Highlights

ClassificationsSCULPTURE

Date1805-1820

MediumCarrara marble

Dimensionsoverall: 28 3/4 in. (73 cm.)

DescriptionA large double snake handle vase decorated with Medusa heads on the sides and with floral and vegetal motifs at the bottom.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from the Schweppe Art Acquisition Fund and gift of the Estate of Gore Vidal, Mr. John Balderston, Mrs. Florence Quinn, Mrs. Nathaniel Dyke, and Miss Beryl Mortlock by exchange

Status

Not on view

Label TextBartolini was one of the leading European marble sculptors of the first half of the 19th century, famous for sculpting decorative arts, like this vase, in addition to the more traditional portrait busts and allegorical groups. Its slender form, exquisite carving, and judicious use of decoration make this work particularly elegant. Classical ornament such as the interlacing serpents, Medusa head masks, gadrooning at the shoulder, and alternating palmette and flat-leaf motifs around the base were popular in 18th-century Europe during the Neoclassical period. Artists and collectors were attracted to the simple, symmetrical, and ordered decoration associated with ancient art, which they would have seen on the Grand Tour in Italy or in prints and other artwork that disseminated this style throughout Europe.

Object number2017.2