The Portland Vase, a Roman cameo-cut glass vase of about 40-30 BC, was one of the most celebrated antiquities in late eighteenth century Europe. Previously in the possession of the Barberini family of Rome (and hence also known as the Barberini Vase), it was bought in 1784 by the Duchess of Portland from the British Ambassador to Naples, the antiquarian and collector Sir William Hamilton, and is now in the British Museum. Following the Duchesses’ death in 1786 Wedgwood borrowed the vase in order to begin making copies in Jasper, the fine unglazed stoneware he had developed as a result of thousands of experiments during the 1770s. Jasper is white, but can be stained a range of colours as a background for applied moulded reliefs. Wedgwood spent four years matching the subtlety of the glass original. In 1789 he showed his first perfected copy to the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, who authenticated it as a ‘correct and faithful imitation.’ The following year he exhibited the vase in his London showrooms to members of the nobility and gentry who had applied for admission tickets in advance. Wedgwood's ‘first edition’ copies are the 45 or so made during the potter’s lifetime. This piece is a mid-19th century reissue of the design, and was bought from the Wedgwood factory in 1845.