The Warwick Vase: The History Behind the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
Today Roger Federer, the most successful male tennis player ever to grace an international court raised a solid silver trophy. It's big, handsome and just a little bit ugly; it's the Warwick Vase.
Most sporting trophies started life as the nearest big lump of cheapish and suitably gaudy silver that came to hand, but the Warwick (as it's known) is a little different. The 18th century saw the heyday of the Grand Tour, and the English enthusiasm for the antiquities of the ancient world. Rome was a particular focus for the young men who travelled to the Continent and whilst there they met up with various people who both showed them the sights and acted as agents for procuring a little, or a large piece of history to take home with them.
One of these fixers was Gavin Hamilton. Ostensibly an artist, he was a skilled negotiator and succeeded in getting some astonishing antiquities out of Italy during the late 18thC. The marble Warwick Vase was found in marshy ground on the site of Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli in 1771, and Hamilton rapidly secured permission to excavate it. It was in a poor state of repair and mostly smashed, but it has the diameter of a modern paddling-pool and was exceptionally rare. Hamilton got it out of the ground and with the help of the famed artist Piranesi and a large block of Carrera marble, reconstructed its original appearance (see the image in the gallery).
Sir William Hamilton, husband of Emma, was the buyer of the pieces and he had it repaired, with the replacement segments hewn from a block of Carrera marble. William Hamilton was not only a collector, he was a speculator and he wanted to sell the vase when it was restored. He hoped to raise some interest from the recently established British Museum but they could muster neither funds nor enthusiasm for the gigantic piece. In the meantime, Piranesi published his famous book of Classical designs in 1778, securing the reputation of the vase. Still no buyer was found, and Sir William deemed it too large to sit in any house he could ever afford. He sent it to his nephew, George Greville, Earl of Warwick. George was cash-rich, but wasn't going to set the intellectual or artistic world alight. He initially placed the vase on the lawn in front of Warwick Castle, where the fashionable set visited to see it. He then had a faux-Gothic greenhouse built to house it, and described it as 'Grecian'.
The Warwick Vase would remain at the castle for the next two centuries. It came to symbolize the Grand Tour, early civilization and sophistication, and sheer grandeur. The symmetry of the vase, its proportions and detail appealed to the Regency taste, and the aristocracy clamoured for George to allow them to copy it. He finally agreed and the Royal Goldsmiths and Jewellers Rundell and Bridge were commissioned to create solid silver versions in varying sizes, to be used as ice buckets and wine coolers. Paul Storr, the finest ever English silversmith created the most exceptional versions in the second decade of the 19thC. The Vase was made in cast-iron, stone and also marble, for homes and also for gardens. There are cast-concrete versions available in posh garden centres instead of gnomes.
During the Victorian period, many different versions, sizes and proportions of the Vase were produced, but only the most faithful and accurate are highly valued today. In 1978, after a disastrous century for the Warwicks, the castle was sold to The Tussauds Group and many of its works of art were sold off. The Vase was not highly valued enough for a London museum to raise the funds to buy it. This was probably a grave mistake. They allowed it to be sold to the Met in New York, but then the government refused to grant it an export license. It was resold and it is now housed in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow.
