In 1845 a glass vase that had survived for almost 2,000 years was smashed into hundreds of pieces in the British Museum by a drunkard armed with a piece from an ancient Persian monument. Now lovingly restored and back on display, this wonderful book charts the history of the vase in a series of nineteen fragments' which are intended to reconstruct the fractured history of the vase. These begin with the vase's discovery in 1582 by Fabrizio Lazzaro who found it when digging a hole in a burial mound on the outskirts of Rome. The fragments' follow the vase's movement between illustrious owners, including Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, an agreeable' man of exquisite taste who loved beautiful things, and Pope Urban VIII, the head of the deeply unpopular Barberini family. In the Barberini's museum the vase became a must-see' and an acknowledged stop on the Grand Tour'. Other owners included the most famous cuckold in history', Sir William Hamilton, Margaret, Duchess of Portland who found a place for the vase in her `growing cabinet of curiositites' and Joshua Wedgewood who made the first perfect copy. Finally, Robin Brooks takes us up to the vase's acquisition by the Third Duke of Portland in 1786, whereupon the vase took on its name, its donation to the BM and its lucky escape from the German bombs. The story is a long and complicated one but Robin Brooks is a constant and very likeable and knowledgeable companion. Throughout Brooks introduces us to the men and women who admired and were inspired by the Vase, including Galileo, William Blake and Poussin. This book is a delight.