the vase

The Meissen vase, a precious porcelain inherited from Uncle Clem, is a central object in the novel that triggers the first major confrontation between Cecilia Tallis and Robbie Turner, and its eventual destruction by the housekeeper Betty years later symbolizes the irreversible damage done to the family's history and memory.

Origin and Significance

The vase was a gift to Cecilia's Uncle Clem, a young lieutenant, from the mayor of a small French town west of Verdun, in gratitude for his last-minute evacuation of fifty women, children, and old people before the town was shelled. It was taken from a half-destroyed museum and presented to him, and he carried it through the war, even wading across a river in spate to retrieve it after leaving it for safety in a farmhouse. In the final days of the war, he gave it to a friend for safekeeping, and it slowly found its way back to the regimental headquarters and was delivered to the Tallis home some months after his burial. The vase was genuine Meissen porcelain, the work of the great artist Höroldt, who painted it in 1726, and it had once been the property of King August. It was reckoned to be worth more than the other pieces in the Tallis home. Jack Tallis wanted the vase in use, in honor of his brother's memory, reasoning that if it had survived the war, it could survive the Tallises. Emily Tallis did not much like the vase, finding its chinoiserie fussy and oppressive. Cecilia herself had no particular view, though she sometimes wondered how much it might fetch at Sotheby's. The vase was respected not for its artistic value, but for Uncle Clem, the lives he had saved, the river he had crossed at midnight, and his death just a week before the Armistice.

The Breaking at the Fountain

On the day of the novel's central events, Cecilia took the vase to the Triton fountain to fill it with water for flowers she had picked. Robbie Turner, wanting to make amends for earlier awkwardness, tried to help her by taking the vase. A struggle ensued, and with a sound like a dry twig snapping, a section of the lip of the vase came away in his hand, splitting into two triangular pieces which dropped into the water. Cecilia and Robbie froze in the attitude of their struggle. Cecilia saw in his eyes not shock or guilt, but a form of challenge or even triumph. She felt the gravity of the accident, thinking of her dead uncle, her father's dear brother, the wasteful war, the treacherous crossing of the river, the preciousness beyond money, the heroism and goodness, all the years backed up behind the history of the vase. She called him an idiot, and in a fury, she stripped to her underwear and climbed into the freezing water to retrieve the pieces, denying him any chance to make amends. This act of defiance and humiliation marked a turning point in their relationship, revealing the intense, unspoken feelings between them.

Repair and Final Destruction

Later that afternoon, Cecilia judged the vase repaired. It had baked all afternoon on a table by a south-facing window in the library, and three fine meandering lines in the glaze, converging like rivers in an atlas, were all that showed. She believed no one would ever know. However, years later, during the war, the vase met its final end. Betty, the cook, dropped it while carrying it down to the cellar for safekeeping, and it shattered on the steps. She claimed the pieces had simply come away in her hand, but that was hardly to be believed. Jack Tallis was furious and actually shouted at Betty, which was so unlike him. The destruction of the vase, like the breaking of the family's bonds, was irreversible and final. Cecilia, upon hearing the news from Briony years later, was roused from her coolness and pressed a hand against her cheek, asking if it was properly broken, in lots of pieces. When Briony confirmed it, she said simply, "That's terrible," and then, "Poor Uncle Clem." The vase, a symbol of heroism, sacrifice, and family history, was gone, its loss echoing the deeper, more personal losses the family had suffered.