AN ITALIAN IMPERIAL PORPHYRY TAZZA

This elegant porphyry tazza is likely to have been inspired by tazze of antiquity, including the enormous porphyry basin measuring 14 feet in diameter that occupies the centre of the Sala Rotonda in the Vatican Museum (inv. no. MV.261.0.0). Basins of this form regained popularity among the Italian elite as early as the 16th century, as demonstrated by the large fountain in the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Two comparable Roman tazze dating to the last quarter of the 18th century are in the collection of the Villa Borghese, Rome, one of porphyry in the Sala degli Imperatori (inv. no. CLXIV) and the other of granitello in the Sala Egizia (inv. no. CCVIII). Like the pair of elongated amphora vases in this collection (lot 17), this tazza was formerly in the collection of the Hope family in Luffness House (see footnote to the preceding lot).