Presentation Vase

This is one of a pair of vases given in 1825 by a group of New York merchants to Governor De Witt Clinton of New York for his role in promoting the construction of the Erie Canal. The vase is decorated with a combination of mythological elements and American motifs. On the front, the figures of Mercury (commerce) and Ceres (agriculture) flank a view of the canal's guard lock and basin at Albany; on the back, Hercules (strength) and Minerva (wisdom) are depicted with the aqueduct at Rochester and the falls of the Genesee River.