Cup with Barbotine Decoration

Place of OriginLikely Egypt

Date2nd century CE

DimensionsH: 2 3/4 × W: 3 1/8 × D: 3 1/8 Diameter 3 in. Foot Diameter 1 in. (7 × 7.9 × 9.5 × 2.6 cm)

MediumWheel-thrown earthenware with applied white-slip (barbotine) decoration

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LineGift of Michael and Stark Ward in memory of Kurt T. Luckner

Object number

1995.24

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionThis finely made Roman cup from Egypt is decorated with raised dots and leafy sprigs in white slip applied over a dark, polished surface. The technique, known as barbotine decoration, involved piping semi-liquid clay through a narrow nozzle to create relief motifs. The result is a vivid floral design that catches light and shadow across the thin-walled body.

Label TextThis small drinking cup, made in Roman Egypt, is decorated with white slip applied in relief to form rosettes and leaf-sprigs against a dark, burnished surface. The raised “blobs” of clay, known as barbotine decoration, were applied by piping semi-liquid clay through a narrow nozzle—an ancient equivalent of cake-icing—to create lively, tactile motifs. Barbotine technique appeared across the Roman world in the first and second centuries CE, notably in Gaul, Italy, and Britain, and reached Egypt as part of the same network of ceramic innovation. Egyptian examples, such as this one, are typically thin-walled cups or beakers with simple dot or floral patterns executed in white slip over reddish or grey bodies.Published ReferencesRoman Pottery, London, Charles Ede Ltd., 1994, no. 25.Comparative ReferencesSee also Woolley, C.L. and T.R. MacIver, Karanog: The Romano-Nubian Cemetery, Philadelphia, 1910, University of Pennsylvania, Egyptian Department of the University Museum, Eckley B. Coxe Junior Expedition to Nubia, vol. III (text) and vol. IV (plates), pl. 90, nos. 8704-5, and pl. 100, no. 9019.

cf. Pagenstecher, R., Expedition Ernst von Sieglin, Ausgrabungen in Alexandria, Band II, Die griechische-ägyptische Sammlung Ernst von Sieglin, 3, Teil, Leipzig, 1913, p. 99, fig. 113.

cf. Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, Liverpool, 1924, vol. 11, pl. XLIX.1.

cf. Garcia Guinea, M.A. and J. Teixidor, La necropolis meroitica de Nellauk (Argin Sur, Sudan), Memorias de la Mision Arqueológica en Nubia, no. VI, Madrid, 1965, fig.s 3.3-4, 5.1, pl. VIIb.

cf. Die ägyptische Sammlung des Bayerischen Staates, Munich, exhibition catalogue, 1966, no. 102, Äs 3846.