122 
ROOM XI. 
Antiquities. 
ANTE-ROOM. 
of foreign nations. This class is arranged ac¬ 
cording to the respective countries to which the 
coins belong, those of each country being kept 
separate. 
The third head, which comprises a class consi¬ 
derably more modern than either of those which 
precede it, consists of Medals struck in our own 
country, and of those which have been struck 
abroad. These are arranged in the same manner 
as the modern coins. 
ANTE-ROOM. 
No. 1. In the centre of the Ante-Room, at the 
head of the stairs, is placed the celebrated Barberini 
vase, which was for more than two centuries the 
principal ornament of the Barberini Palace. 
This vase was purchased of Sir William Hamilton, 
nearly thirty years ago, by the Duchess of Portland, 
since which period it has been more generally 
known by the name of the Portland Vase. It was 
found about the middle of the sixteenth century 
two miles and a half from Rome, in the road 
leading to Frascati. At the time of its discovery, 
the vase was enclosed in a marble sarcophagus, 
within a sepulchral chamber, under the mount 
called Monte del Grano. The material of which 
the vase is formed, is glass; the figures, which 
are 
