Vase

Decorative vase This alabaster vase was made by an unknown sculptor in Italy at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The base of the vase consists of three dolphins on a hexagonal plate with curved bodies, fastened in the middle with a polygonal band. Their curled tails ending in acanthus leaves support a small hemisphere at the base of the vase body. The body is semi-circular, strongly flattened, the profile passes into a narrowed neck with a broadly turned-out spout. The edge of the spout is encircled by a full-plastic vine branch with fruit emerging from braided handles imitating plant shoots. The vase is set on a hexagonal pillar with a profiled pedestal. This vase together with a pair of alabaster vases (inv. no. S. 1398 MŁ, S. 1399 MŁ) were probably made in the same sculptor’s workshop, and they may have formed a set. Barbara Trojnar