Unveiling The Hope Cup: Witness the Epic Tale of Perseus Come to Life on this Magnificent 2 M Vase
The Hope Vase an extraordinary affair of flawless technique (), as Arthur Grimwade, one of the worlds greatest experts on Silver, once described the iconic present lot, was made as a special commission for Henry Thomas Hope by JeanValentin Morel (17941860), one of the most talented goldsmiths of the 19th century (Arthur Grimwade, Silver for Sale: Christies in the Thirties, Norwich, 1994, p. 165). Shown at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855 (official catalogue, class 17, section 5, no. 5104), Morel won the great medal for this true tour de force of enamelling and lapidary art that tells the story of Perseus and Andromeda from Classical Greek Mythology: La coupe est tirée dun bloc de jaspe qui pesait quatrevingt livres, cest la plus grosse pièce de jaspe oriental que lon connaisse. La taille a demandé trois ans de travail et linvention de nombreux procédés (L. Dussieux, Les Artistes Français à l étranger: Recherches sur leurs Travaux
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