Simple and sturdy, this vessel might have held perfumes, oils or balms at the height of the Roman Empire. Unadorned yet elegant, it offers few clues to the lives through which it passed so long ago. Yet, when we grasp it in our hands today, we are aware of the connection it makes with the vanished Classical world. Who were the people who held this vessel then, what did they think, hope and dream? We can never know the answers for certain, but in the presence of this ancient vase the imagination sets out on an endless journey of discovery.