130 
ROOM XI. 
Antiquities. 
ANTE-ROOM. 
Antiquities. 
to the respective countries to which the coins 
belong, those of each country being kept sepa¬ 
rate. 
The third head, which comprises a class con¬ 
siderably 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 man¬ 
ner 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 Bar- 
berini vase, which was for more than two cen¬ 
turies 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 six¬ 
teenth century, two miles and a half from Rome, 
in the road leading to Frascati. At the time of 
its discovery, the vase was inclosed in a marble 
sarcophagus, within a sepulchral chamber, under 
the Mount called Monte del Grano . The ma¬ 
terial of which the vase is formed is glass: the 
figures, which are executed in relief, are of a 
beautiful opaque white, and the ground is in per¬ 
fect harmony with the figures, and of a dark 
transparent blue. The subject of these figures 
is 
