Porphyry vase with twisted gadroons, the scrolled handles depicting snakes, with removable lid, resting on a pedestal; (accidents and missing parts, notably a chip on the pedestal and the socket). Rome, mid-17th century. H.32cm (approx.) Bibliographical references: P. Malgouyres, Porphyry, exhibition catalogue, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2003. D. Del Bufalo, Red Imperial porphyry, power and religion, Turin, 2012, n°V46, p. 145 (for a similar vase). As Philippe Malgouyres points out in his remarkable exhibition at the Musée du Louvre in 2003, the links between the porphyry objects preserved today and the specialized practitioners or sculptors listed in Rome in the 17th century are complex to make, and the various invoices or traces of payment difficult to interpret. However, a fairly recent discovery (S. Pergola in I Marmi colorati della Roma imperiale, cat. exp., Rome, 2002, p. 581-582) establishes a correspondence between the famous vase in the Doria-Pamphili collection in Rome (see illustration) and the production of Silvio Calci's workshop active in Rome in the mid-17th century. These payment documents nevertheless allow us to put forward the name of Calci for the Doria-Pamphili vase and consequently also for the small number of similar vases relating to it. An identical pair of vases reproduced in Del Bufalo, op. cit. p. 145 was once part of Jacques Malatier's collection (his sale in Paris, étude Ader, October 10, 2018, lot 214).