A Large Wedgwood Sage Green Jasperware Covered Apotheosis of Virgil (Pegasus) Vase, designed by John Flaxman, Bu...

Description

A Large Wedgwood Sage Green Jasperware Covered Apotheosis of Virgil (Pegasus) Vase, designed by John Flaxman, Burslem (Stoke-on-Trent), Staffordshire, England, late 19th-early 20th century
Marks: WEDGWOOD
18-1/2 inches high (47.0 cm)

Colloquially known as the "Pegasus Vase," the scenery on this classically-inspired urn represents the "Apotheosis of Homer," or the "Crowning of a Citharist." The original was modeled in 1778 by John Flaxman, who borrowed scenery from a calyx krater vase which was in the collection of the British Museum. The original antiquity was acquired by British statesman Sir William Hamilton in the 1760's. In May 1786, Josiah Wedgwood presented a copy of the Pegasus vase to the British Museum relating that it was the "finest and most perfect I have ever made."

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