Vase with three handles

Vase with three handles The decorative marble vase was made by an unknown sculptor at the turn of the 18th and 19th c., probably in Italy. A distinctive feature of the vase are its three pairs of large, intertwined handles. The semicircular, flattened bowl with a semicircular curved mouth rests on a stem that grows into a round foot with a profiled edge. On the inside, the bowl is decorated with a relief composition centrally depicting the head of Medusa, encircled by concentric laurel leaves. The head of Medusa was depicted with a face of a young woman with wings in her hair and a pair of entwined snakes under her chin. Medusa is Greek mythological figure; she was the most dangerous of the three Gorgon-monster sisters. The was is listed in the 1862 Łańcut Castle inventory (p. 186): "A pink and ashy marble vase - shallow, with three intertwined handles and a carved face on the inside". It decorated the Sculpture Gallery, where it is exhibited to this day.