Portland Vase
The most famous Roman cameo glass: white figures cut in a layer over dark blue.
The vase was made in Rome under the emperor Augustus and later owned by the Duchess of Portland. Josiah Wedgwood spent four years copying it in jasperware. It was smashed by a visitor in 1845 and has been restored three times. It is in the British Museum.
Materials: Blown glass, dark blue with a layer of opaque white
Manufacture: Two layers of glass were blown together; the white was ground and cut away to leave the figures in relief, like a cameo.
The white figures against the almost black ground, cut so thin that the blue shows through.
The subject is disputed – perhaps Peleus and Thetis.