A large Italian portasanta marble vase with lid, late 18th century

The refined design of the present vase, of elongated form and imposing scale, together with vibrant colours of the portasanta marble, make it a rare example of Roman production in the second half of the 18th century. The moulded lid topped with a finial and neck of the vase echo the foot and stepped base, while the gadroons adorning the lower half of the body give the whole vase an additional sculptural presence. The shape of this vase, although classical, it is not yet closely emulating Antique models, as it will become common in Italian workshops.

The Chios marble or marmor chium was quarried on the Greek island of the same name and acquired the name Portasanta in the 16th century when the jambs of the "Porta Santa" (Holy Gate) in the Basilica of St Peter's in Rome were made of it. There is a great diversity in the tints of this stone, though the general tone is red or reddish. The veins are irregular, sometimes wide, narrow, wavy or articulated and it is difficult to determine the colour of the ground, which is covered with red, pink, and orange veins.

Originally quarried by the ancient Greeks, portasanta was extensively exploited by the Romans from the first century BC onwards. The Emperor Claudius was believed to have had a great admiration for this marble; consequently it is sometimes called Claudian stone. In common with many other ancient stones, the quarries closed during Byzantine times and their location was lost for many centuries. During the 1880s and early 1890s, the English William Brindley travelled through Greece, Turkey and North Africa, discovering the ancient workings of cipollino marble on the Island of Evia, portasanta on Chios, verde antico near Larissa on the central Greek mainland and Imperial porphyry at Gebel Dokhan in the Egyptian Eastern Desert.