A large and rare green porphyry vase navette

A large and rare green porphyry vase navette
Italian. Early Nineteenth Century.
Measurements
Height 12" (30.5 cm); Width: 16 3/4" (42.5 cm); Depth 11 1/4 " (29 cm).
Research:
Of green porphyry. Of kylix form, the oval tapered body with handles to the ends, raised on a waisted socle. Some minor old chips to edges.

Provenance:
Christie’s, New York, Important European Furniture, Works of Art, Ceramics, and Carpets, October 20, 2006, Lot 783.

The present tazza is formed of Lapis Lacedaemonius (also called porfido serpentino verde), a green porphyry found only in Laconina (modern day Krokees), Greece. Characterized by its exceptional hardness and “rich green ground, covered with rectangular greenish-white crystals of feldspar,” the stone was used by the ancients. Because of its limited availability and difficulty in working the stone, it was considered a rare and precious material. The sample of stone employed to make the tazza was likely repurposed from an antique column, as was customary of objects in the neoclassical era acquired in Rome on the Grand Tour in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

Full research report available on request.