Poème de la vigne – M.H. de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California

Gustave Doré created this three-ton bronze vase, for French winemakers, who exhibited it at the 1878 Paris World’s Fair. It represents an allegory of the annual wine vintage, taking the shape of a colossal wine vessel decorated with figures associated with the rites of Bacchus (the Roman god of wine). The revelers include cupids, satyrs, and bacchantes, who protect the grape vines from pests. The foundry shipped this bronze version of the vase to Chicago for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and then to San Francisco for the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition. (This exuberant work must have resonated with the fair’s theme, "California: Cornucopia of the World.") According to an article in an 1893 issue of World’s Fair, "The total visual effect of ‘Poem of the Vine’ is one of lush, rich enjoyment … like a bottle of wine itself, to be tasted in sips, yet enjoyed as a complete experience."

M. H. de Young purchased the vase at the fair’s end and later donated it to the de Young Museum. In 1906 the San Francisco earthquake tipped over the vase but apparently caused little damage.