The masterpieces of the Centennial international exhibition of 1876 .. . engaged forupwards of six years upon this piece, exhibiting it for the first time at theVienna Exposition, where the jury pronounced it to be the most important andthe most beautiful work of modern times. The materials of which the Helicon Vase is composed are oxydized silverand steel,—the latter damascened. The piece is designed to symbolize theApotheosis of Music and Poetry. It is in the Italian Renaissance style, a stylewhich combines classical purity with great richness and elaboration of form, the piece may
The masterpieces of the Centennial international exhibition of 1876 .. . engaged forupwards of six years upon this piece, exhibiting it for the first time at theVienna Exposition, where the jury pronounced it to be the most important andthe most beautiful work of modern times. The materials of which the Helicon Vase is composed are oxydized silverand steel,—the latter damascened. The piece is designed to symbolize theApotheosis of Music and Poetry. It is in the Italian Renaissance style, a stylewhich combines classical purity with great richness and elaboration of form, the piece may be described as an elongated plateau, the surface slopingupwards to the centre, on which rests the vase. The plateau is enriched withsculptured panels and medallions, and around the border is a series of twelve INDUSTRIAL ART. 135 bas-reliefs, of various shapes, illustrative of the different kinds of Music andPoetry. The interstices of the design are filled in with scrolls, masks, andtrophies of various kinds, formed of beaten silver, which is thrown into relief by. The HiliLon Vase: lilkuiglon &= Co. the background of dark, richly damascened steel. The two oval medallions areoccupied by bas-reliefs, the one containing a representation of Pegasus, bearing agenie typifying Inspiration, and the other, a griffin or hippograph, carrying the 136 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1S76. genie of Imagina-tion. The executionof these figures isparticularly are modelledwith great powerand spirit, and thefinish given to theworkmanship issomething marvel-ous. Only with theaid of a magnifyingglass can its ex-treme delicacy beappreciated. As ex-ples of the beautyof the panels, wemay cite two, illus-trative of satiricaland elegaic the first is a vail-ed, recumbent figure,attended by mourn-ing genii, in a land-scape saddened bycypresses and wil-lows. In the other,satirical poetry isemblematized by agrinning satyr, whohas just removedwith one hand thecomely mask whichlately hi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherphila, bookyear1876
