It was during the Roman period that the technique of glassblowing was first perfected, and translucent, jewel-like color was first added. This lovely vessel, the color of the sunlit Mediterranean, makes superb use of both innovations. What might it have contained when the Roman Empire was in its glory? Sweet oils? Fragrant attars? Precious balms? Surely the contents must have been something rare and costly to deserve so lovely a vessel. Today it seems filled with the elusive perfume of imagination.