Gracing the west end of the upper hall of the Signet Library is a remarkable object. Its story weaves together Greek mythology, Ancient Rome, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and the film industry. A monumental presence at the far end of that most beautiful of interiors, the Garnkirk Florence Vase has stood mute witness to over 150 years of history at the WS Society.

The Garnkirk is a replica of an original Medici Vase. This ancient masterpiece is a marble bell-shaped krater or crater (a type of mixing vessel) believed to have been sculpted in Athens in the 1st century AD for the Roman market. It was conceived as a garden ornament for well-to-do Roman gentry at a time when ambitions of pastoral elegance were clearly in vogue. It was uncovered in Rome in the sixteenth century…