A LARGE ITALIAN ALABASTER 'MEDICI VASE', ON PEDESTAL

The present vase is modelled after the celebrated Antique marble original believed to date from the first century A.D., first recorded at the Villa Medici in Rome in the late 16th century, and now in the Uffizi, Florence. The frieze is said to depict the Athenians gathered at Delphi before the Trojan War, as well as satyrs and a female figure, likely Iphigenia, seated below a statue of Artemis. Along with the Borghese Vase, with which it is often paired, the Medici Vase achieved widespread fame through the publication of engravings such as those made by Piranesi and published in Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed ornamenti antichi (1778). Together, the vases were regarded as being among the greatest surviving examples of Classical art, and were attributed by some early writers to the great Greek sculptor, painter, and architect, Phidias. Reflective of the Roman taste for lavish garden ornament, monumental vases of this type were de rigueur for any parterre from the mid-17th century onwards. Although 19th century replications on this scale are rare, compare another in the in the Parade Staircase at the Anichkov Palace, St. Petersburg.