Best Vase

The David Vases are a pair of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain temple vases dated by an inscription to 1351 CE, during the Yuan dynasty. They are named after Sir Percival David, who acquired them and whose foundation later loaned them to the British Museum. Featuring dragon handles and elaborate ele...

The Exekias Amphora is an Attic black-figure vase created around 530 BCE by the ancient Greek potter and painter Exekias. Now housed in the Vatican Museums, the vessel is famous for its detailed depiction of the heroes Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game during a pause in the Trojan War. Both figu...

The François Vase is a large Attic black-figure volute krater created around 570 BCE, currently displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence. The vessel is signed by its potter, Ergotimos, and its painter, Kleitias. It is distinguished by its intricate, multi-register decoration, whic...

The Medici Vase is a large ancient Roman marble bell krater dating to the 1st century BCE. Carved in high relief, its exterior features scenes of figures beneath decorative garlands, often interpreted as depicting Iphigenia or other Greek mythological themes. It was documented in the Villa Medici in...

The Nessos Amphora is an ancient Greek vessel created in Athens around 620 to 610 BCE, marking a crucial transition from the earlier Proto-Attic style to the black-figure technique. It is named after the prominent scene on its neck, which depicts the hero Heracles battling the centaur Nessos. The bo...

The Iittala Aalto Vase, also known as the Savoy Vase, is a piece of glassware designed by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto in 1936. It was originally created for the Savoy restaurant in Helsinki, which was designed by Aalto and his wife Aino. The vase is characterized by its undulating, asymmetrical wa...

The Hans Coper Spade Vase is a sculptural ceramic vessel created by the German-born British studio potter Hans Coper (1920–1981). Coper was known for his hand-built, non-functional approach to pottery, often constructing his pieces using the coiling method rather than a potter's wheel. The Spade vas...

The Wedgwood Jasperware Portland Vase is a ceramic reproduction of an ancient Roman cameo glass vessel, created by the English potter Josiah Wedgwood in the late 18th century. Wedgwood spent several years developing the project, attempting to replicate the original Roman glass effects using his newl...

The Venini Fazzoletto Vase is an iconic handkerchief-shaped Murano glass vase designed by Fulvio Bianconi and Paolo Venini for Venini in Venice around 1948, a defining object of postwar Italian design.

The Louis Comfort Tiffany Favrile Vase is a piece of decorative art glass produced by Tiffany Studios in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Favrile glass was patented by American designer Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1894, distinguished by its proprietary chemical treatment that gave the surface a...

The René Lalique Tourbillons Vase is a piece of mold-pressed glassware designed by the French artist and industrialist René Lalique in 1926. The design is defined by its repeating, vertical columns of geometric grooves that swirl upward in a helix pattern, creating a distinct optical illusion of mot...

The Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica Vase is part of an exceptional Danish porcelain service first commissioned in 1790, hand-painted with botanically accurate illustrations of Nordic flora and still produced today.

The Warka Vase is an ancient Sumerian relic dating to approximately 3200-3000 BC. Carved from alabaster in Uruk, it represents a significant early example of narrative relief carving found within the broader context of Mesopotamian ritual practices. The vase’s detailed scenes offer valuable insight...

The Sèvres Bleu Céleste Vase refers to pieces of soft-paste porcelain produced by the Manufacture de Sèvres in France during the mid-18th century. The defining feature of these vessels is the 'Bleu Céleste' ground color, a vibrant turquoise blue developed around 1752 under the direction of chemist J...

The Meissen Swan Service Vase references the elaborate Swan Service commissioned in 1737 by Heinrich von Brühl from Meissen, Germany, one of the largest and most celebrated Rococo porcelain services ever created.

The Francois Vase is a significant Greek relic a ceramic vase created in Athens circa 570 BC. This large Attic krater, attributed to Kleitias and Ergotimos, showcases a sophisticated black-figure technique. It depicts scenes from Greek mythology specifically the myth of Achilles and Ajax. The vase’s...

The Sèvres Rose Pompadour Vase is associated with the distinctive pink ground color developed at the French royal Sèvres manufactory around 1757, named in honor of King Louis XV's mistress Madame de Pompadour.

The Loetz Papillon Vase is a type of iridescent art glass produced by the Loetz Witwe glassworks in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic. Manufactured primarily around 1900, these vases are distinguished by their distinctive "papillon" or butterfly-wing surface iridescence. The effect was achieved by spr...

The René Lalique Serpent Vase is a notable glass piece designed by the French jeweler and glassmaker René Lalique. Featuring intricately modeled, coiled serpents in raised relief, the vase exemplifies Lalique's transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco design aesthetics. It was produced at his glasswo...

Steuben Aurene Vases are examples of iridescent art glass developed by Frederick Carder at the Steuben Glass Works in Corning, New York. Introduced around 1904, Aurene glass features a distinctive shimmering gold or blue finish achieved by spraying metallic salts onto the glass surface during heatin...

The Gustavsberg Farsta Vase is a line of Swedish stoneware vessels originally designed by Wilhelm Kåge in the 1930s for the Gustavsberg porcelain factory. Characterized by heavy hand-thrown forms and thick, earth-toned glazed surfaces, these vessels represent some of the notable art pottery produced...

Jun Kaneko's Dango series features large-scale, closed-form ceramic vessels created by the Japanese-American artist beginning in the 1990s. Named after the Japanese word for dumpling or round form, these massive sculptures can reach several feet in height and require specialized industrial kilns for...

The Gustavsberg Argenta series is a collection of Swedish ceramic art pieces originally designed by Wilhelm Kåge in the 1930s. Characterized by a dark green stoneware base inlaid with hand-painted sterling silver motifs, these vessels were heavily influenced by the Art Deco movement. The Argenta lin...

The Lalique Perles Vase is a piece of Art Deco glassware designed by René Lalique in France, first introduced in the 1920s. It is characterized by a geometric pattern of molded opalescent glass spheres, or pearls, covering the exterior to create a textured surface. Manufactured at Lalique's glasswor...

The Aino Aalto vase, sometimes known by its model name "Bölgeblick," is a piece of pressed glass designed by the Finnish architect Aino Aalto in 1932. Inspired by the concentric rings formed by a stone thrown into water, the design consists of a cylindrical form with a ribbed, undulating surface. Ma...

The René Lalique Gui Vase is a piece of French Art Deco glassware originally designed in 1928, featuring molded relief decorations of mistletoe leaves and berries. "Gui" translates to mistletoe in French, reflecting Lalique's frequent use of natural and botanical motifs in his designs. Produced usin...

The Lalique Champs-Elysées Vase is a crystal vessel produced by the French glassmaker Lalique, founded by designer René Lalique (1860–1945). The design features a repeating pattern of overlapping leaves rendered in frosted and clear glass, named after the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris. Lalique has...

The Moorcroft Wisteria Vase is a ceramic piece produced by Moorcroft Pottery of Burslem, Staffordshire, England. William Moorcroft (1872–1945) established his own pottery in 1913, having previously designed for James Macintyre & Co., where he developed the Florian Ware line. The Wisteria pattern fea...

The Venini Battuto Vase is a Murano glass vessel produced by Venini, a glasshouse founded on the island of Murano in Venice in 1921. The term battuto (Italian for 'beaten' or 'struck') refers to a cold-working technique in which the cooled glass surface is ground and faceted with a grinding wheel to...