Vase with Serpent-Shaped Handles Sprouting from Medusa Heads

Bartolini was one of the leading European marble sculptors of the first half of the 19th century, famous for sculpting decorative arts, like this vase, in addition to the more traditional portrait busts and allegorical groups. Its slender form, exquisite carving, and judicious use of decoration make this work particularly elegant. Classical ornament such as the interlacing serpents, Medusa head masks, gadrooning at the shoulder, and alternating palmette and flat-leaf motifs around the base were popular in 18th-century Europe during the Neoclassical period. Artists and collectors were attracted to the simple, symmetrical, and ordered decoration associated with ancient art, which they would have seen on the Grand Tour in Italy or in prints and other artwork that disseminated this style throughout Europe.