Decorated with a lively pattern of incisions, this graceful vessel perhaps contained fine oil or wine during the Golden Age of Rome. When we hold it today, we are aware of the touch of ancient hands: shaping it, decorating it, selling it in some bustling marketplace, pouring out its precious contents. In its presence those ancient persons, otherwise forgotten, come briefly alive. We feel the energy of their lives and we become part of the unbroken chain of history.