This water jar once belonged to the poet Samuel Rogers (1763-1855). He made his money as a banker and became a collector of art. He was a popular figure in Regency London and his social circle included politicians, artists and academics. An image called 'Samuel Rogers at his Breakfast Table', in the Tate collection, shows some of Rogers' antiquities being admired by distinguished guests at a gathering. An ancient Greek vase can be seen in the background but unfortunately it isn't this one! Some of the other antiquities have been identified though; a bust of Alexander Pope is now in the Barber Institute, Birmingham; the fresco fragment over the mirror is at the National Gallery; and Michaelangelo's terracotta modello for his statue of Lorenzo de Medici is at National Museum of Scotland.