Gilded Red-Gloss Bowl (Terra Sigillata)

Place of OriginAncient Rome

DateMid-first century CE, about 20 CE-60 CE

DimensionsDiam: 4½ in. (11.4 cm.); H: 2½ in. (6.4 cm.) (dealer)

MediumMold-decorated red-gloss earthenware (aka terra sigillata).

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, by exchange

Object number

2008.112

Not on View

DescriptionA mold-made hemispherical bowl from Roman Gaul, produced in the first century CE from red-gloss earthenware (terra sigillata). The medium brown-orange slip is glossy, and the fine fabric is orange-brown. The bowl is decorated with a foliate scroll of vine leaves, buds, and tendrils, framed by rows of dots. Substantial gilding remains on the rim, the relief leaves and tendrils, and as a flat rosette pattern inside the bowl. The specific shape of this vessel is known in scholarship as Dragendorff Form 37.

Label TextThis type of mold-decorated pottery imitates contemporary tablewares made in costly metal, including bronze, silver, and gold. It was first made in Italy, but by about A.D. 30 factories in Gaul (the Roman province comprised of modern France, Belgium, Luxemburg, and part of Germany) were producing and shipping large quantities all around the Roman Empire. The fragile gilding on the interior and exterior was added before the bowl was dedicated as a votive or funeral gift.Published ReferencesAntiquities, Christie's, South Kensington, sale no. 5399, 29 April 2008, lot 90 ("Roman pottery Arretine bowl"). Cf. Catherine Johns, Arretine and Samian (London: The British Museum, 1971, pls. 4-5, and 7.Cf. R. Schindler, Landesmuseum Trier, Führer durch die vorgeschichtliche und römische Abteilung (Trier: Landesmuseum Trier, 1970) p. 30, Abb. 80. Cf. Hans Dragendorff, Arretinische Reliefkeramik mit Beschreibung der Sammlung in Tübingen (nach der Verfassers Tode ergänzt und herausgegeben von Carl Watzinger) (Reutlingen: Gryphius-Verlag, 1948). [this reference work is customarily abbreviated as Dragendorff-Watzinger 1948.] See p. 194, no. 196, Inv. 2362, Taf. 12, a fragment with a rich, large frieze of vine leaves, grape bunches, and tendrils (points to left), attributed to the workshop of Tigranus, ca. 25 B.C. - A.D. 10, and related to the workshop of P. Perennius Bargathes (see p. 202, no. 277, Inv. 2402, Taf. 22, a stamped fragment with vine leaves and tendrils. Cf. James Curle, "Terra Sigillata: Some Typical Decorated Bowls," Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 51 (12 May 1917), pp. 130-176. Cf. H. B. Walters, Catalogue of the Roman Pottery in the Departments of Antiquities, British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1908). Cf. Joseph Déchelette (1862-1914), Les vases céramiques ornés de la Gaul romaine (Narbonnais, Aquitaine, et Lyonnaise), 2 vols. (Paris: Picard, 1904). Cf. Hans Dragendorff (1870-1941), "Terra Sigillata," Bonner Jahrbücher vols. 96-97 (1895) pp. 18-155.