![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() When the vase was smashed by a 19th-century drunk, it was Wedgwood's copy that guided the massive restoration of the original. Wedgwood's amazing copy can be seen in the Wedgwood Museum at The World of Wedgwood in Barlaston, Stoke on Trent. In the 18th century, Josiah Wedgwood copied the vase in black Jasperware, a piece that is still considered his masterpiece and that made the original Portland Vase world famous. The scenes were probably carved by a gem cutter. It may have been a wedding gift because the pictures on it, in a white glass overlay on a dark blue glass, depict love, marriage, and sex. What is it? The Portland Vase is a cameo glass vessel, probably made in Rome between AD5 and 25. It is one of the museum's selections of "A History of the World in 100 Objects." Where to see it: Find it in ground floor gallery 4. It has been displayed at the British Museum since 1802 with time out in a deep tunnel under London during WWII. The British acquired it, along with other Egyptian antiquities, under the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria when Napoleon was defeated. How did it come to the British Museum? The stone was discovered in 1799, during the Napoleonic Wars, by French soldiers digging the foundation of a fortress in El-Rashid (Rosetta). By comparing the three languages on the tablet, scholars were finally able to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. The decree is written in hieroglyphics - the priestly form of writing by then, in demotic or everyday Egyptian of the period, and in Greek. The Rosetta Stone is a decree passed by Egyptian priests on the first anniversary of the coronation of the Pharoah, Ptolemy V. What is it? It was the key to unlocking the mysteries of Egyptian hieroglyphics. VisitBritain/James McCormick/Getty Images ![]()
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