The Portland Vase: Mania & Muse (1780 2023)

The Portland Vase, the ancient Roman glass cameo amphora held in the British Museum, has been replicated and reinterpreted countless times, becoming a global brand that has resonated with makers, collectors, and consumers for centuries. Featuring more than 65 artworks, this book examines the role of brands in our culture and asks why Western Classical traditions dominate the artistic canon, and how that canon might be reconsidered and disrupted. Josiah Wedgwood, Viola Frey, Clare Twomey and Robert Lugo, among others engaged with the cameo-glass masterpiece. Their creative conceptual choices respond to complex histories of transfiguration and representation to create a new set of visual and cultural dialogues.