Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton - photo 1
Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton - photo 2
Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton - photo 3
Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton - photo 4
Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton - photo 5
Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton - photo 6
Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton - photo 7

Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton

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$ 107 100
Auction dateClassic
19.10.2023 10:00UTC -04:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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USA, New York
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ID 1032788
Lot 136 | Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton
HAMILTON, William (1730-1803) – Pierre François Hugues d'HANCARVILLE (1719-1805). Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon. William Hamilton. Naples: 1766[-1776].

The most sumptuous antiquarian publication of its time; a beautifully crisp and bright copy, handsomely bound and with noble provenance. The Duke and Princess of Courland copy. Printed in Naples, written by the English, and fêted by the French—Brunet calls it an "ouvrage précieux, exécuté avec beaucoup de luxe,” while in Cohen-de Ricci’s judgement it is an “edition splendide et de grand luxe”—this work represents the culmination of the 18th-century European antiquarian impulse. It documents Sir William Hamilton’s first ancient vase collection, and is profusely illustrated with fine hand-colored engravings including the first accurate measurements of ancient vases, which not only helped change the way art historians looked at the humble pot, but is also “of great importance in the development of neo-classical designs for pottery and porcelain; it influenced Wedgwood especially” (Blackmer). Hamilton's eventual wife, Lady Emma Hamilton, would later use many of these images as the basis for her famous "attitudes," performed for visiting nobles and artists.

Sir William Hamilton came to Naples as an ambassador in 1764 and quickly set himself up as a new Pliny: blending serious duty with serious leisure and fascinated by absolutely everything around him. He "loved nature and art as one, and shared the universal interests of the antiquaries of the past" (Sloan). His vase collecting began soon after, with the brilliant but rather scurrilous Pierre François Hugues—styling himself as "d'Hancarville"—acting as his agent. "The basis of [his first collection] was the purchase of the Greek vases belonging to the Porcarini family in in 1766," which Hamilton bought and enlarged, and then sold to the British Museum in 1772 (Blackmer). Before their shipment to England, all the objects were listed, drawn and described under the supervision of d'Hancarville. For some time, such vases were thought to be a product of the Etruscan civilization, but there was a growing understanding that the vases were really Greek—one which Hamilton himself was coming to even as his catalogue, entitled Collection of Etruscan, Greek and Roman Antiquities, was being published.

The text was largely written by d'Hancarville, an associate and also aspiring-rival of the famous German art historian J.J. Winckelmann, who saw this book as his opportunity to make his own lasting contribution to the scholarship on ancient art. Unfortunately, with the first two volumes issued, publication was then interrupted by d'Hancarville's expulsion from Naples for debt. Hamilton was forced to chase him down in Florence, where he found his collaborator in prison and his copper-plates in the hands of creditors. The last two volumes did not appear before 1776, with Hamilton's having arranged d'Hancarville's debtors into a syndicate to earn back their losses. While the collection was sold en bloc, by the end of the following decade, Hamilton, the consummate collector, was acquiring again. His friend, the artist Tischbein, wrote in his memoirs that Hamilton had come to him full of joy and "declared he could resist no longer and had started to buy vases all over again."

Although Blackmer states that the edition was of 500 copies, it appears that only 100 copies of the two later volumes were issued, and this, together with the long gap in publication, accounts for the relatively high number of incomplete sets. An elegant work which exemplifies the learned and discriminating taste of its patron, the greatest collector of his age. Berlin Kat 890; Blackmer 845 (435 plates); Brunet I, 321; Cohen-de Ricci 474; Sloan, Vases and Volcanoes (1996). See also Ramage, “Publication Dates of Sir William Hamilton’s Four Volumes,” Ars Ceramica 8 (1991), p. 35.

This is a splendid copy, whose original owner was Peter von Biron, Duke of Courland and thence to his daughter, the Princess of Courland. Its current owners are Dr. Nancy Ramage, the classicist and art historian, and the archaeologist, Dr. Andrew Ramage. Nancy Ramage has published extensively on Sir William Hamilton and it was her research thirty years ago which led to the correct dating of the present publication.

Four volumes, folio (475 x 360mm). 2 hand-colored engraved title pages in each volume [French and English], 5 engraved dedication pages, 435 engraved plates, 184 of which are hand-colored and many of double-page or folding, engraved vignettes and elaborate historiated initials, some in color (errata leaf in vol 1 with small tear in blank gutter margin, a pale dampstain to a few leaves in vol 1 in the blank lower gutter, a few stray ink spots). Contemporary calf gilt, spines richly gilt with a Greek key pattern, morocco lettering- and numbering-pieces, marbled endpapers, all edges stained red (numbering pieces creased with some tiny flakes, light rubbing to edges and corners just bumped). Provenance: Peter von Biron, Duke of Courland and Semigallia, 1724-1800 (gilt armorial ex-libris on each upper cover) – Luise Pauline Maria Biron, Princess of Courland, Duchess of Sagan, then Princess of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, 1782-1845 (paper shelf labels with coronet and initials "PH" to upper pastedown of each volume) – Nancy and Andrew Ramage (current owners, acquired by them in 1971).

We are grateful to provenance researcher Angelina Giovani for identifying Luise Biron's bookplate.
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HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803) and Pierre François Hugues, Baron d'HANCARVILLE (1719-1805).
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HANCARVILLE, Pierre-François Hugues d’ (1719-1805)
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