A drunken visitor smashes the Portland Vase in the British Museum

Background. The Portland Vase, a Roman cameo glass piece, has been in the British Museum in London since 1810. It is recognized as the best known piece of Roman cameo glass. The museum, located in Bloomsbury, is a public institution dedicated to human history and culture, which had been collecting and displaying such artifacts for decades prior to the 1845 incident.

The Smashing. At 3:45 p.m. on 7 February 1845, the vase was shattered by William Lloyd. Lloyd had been drinking for the previous week and threw a nearby sculpture on top of the display case, smashing both the sculpture and the vase. This event caused significant damage to the artifact, necessitating immediate conservation attention.

Repair and Conservation. The vase was pieced together with fair success in 1845 by British Museum restorer John Doubleday. Thorpe confirmed that a circular glass base removed in 1845 was not original. Doubleday reportedly used animal glue for the restoration; a later restorer's "new adhesives", once thought to be epoxy resins or shellac, were later discovered to simply be the same type of animal glue that Doubleday used in 1845.