The conservation history of the Portland Vase
Vandalised by a drunken visitor
Following some slight damage in 1810, the Portland Vase was
entrusted to the British Museum by its owner, the fourth Duke of
Portland. Unfortunately, in 1845 an 'intemperate' vandal smashed
the vase while it was on display, inflicting significant
damage.
A Museum craftsman restored the vase, though he was unable to
replace all of the pieces: thirty-seven small fragments were lost
for the next 100 years.
When the British Museum bought the Portland Vase in 1945
from the seventh Duke, the missing fragments were found. By 1948,
the previous restoration appeared aged and it was decided to
restore the vase. Only three of the fragments were successfully
replaced.
A new generation of conservators assessed the condition of the
vase in 1987 when the vase was the focal piece of an international
exhibition of Roman glass. During the intervening 30 years,
the adhesive had significantly weakened: when the vase was gently
tapped the joins rattled. At the conclusion of the exhibition,
conservators and curators decided the Portland Vase should be
stabilized. The treatment had a lot of press coverage as well as
interest from scholars.
The vase was extensively photographed and drawn to record the
position of fragments before dismantling, and the BBC filmed the
conservation process.
Several different adhesives had been used for the previous
restorations and had all failed. To find an adhesive that would
last for much longer, conservation scientists at the Museum tested
many adhesives for long term stability.
Finally, an epoxy resin that had shown excellent ageing
properties was chosen. Reassembly of the vase was made more
difficult as the edges of some fragments were found to have been
filed down during previous restorations. Nevertheless, all the
fragments were replaced except for a few small splinters. Any areas
that were still missing were gap-filled with a blue-coloured epoxy
resin or, where loss occurred to the figures, with white-coloured
resin.
The newly conserved Portland Vase was returned to display and,
except for light cleaning, should not require major conservation
work for many years to come.