The Chaourse Treasure is a hoard of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

silver found in

Chaourse Chaourse is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The famous Chaourse Treasure of Roman artefacts, now in the British Museum, was found in the village in 1883. Population See also *Communes of the Aisn ...

, a village near Montcornet, Aisne in northern France in 1883. Dating between the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the treasure is one of the most complete table services to survive from antiquity. This important hoard is now part of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

's collection.British Museum Collection
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Discovery and ownership

The hoard was uncovered by chance in a field near the village of Chaourse and had been deposited wrapped in cloth. Coins were also found with the treasure, the latest dating from the Gallic emperor

Postumus Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus was a Roman commander of Batavian origin, who ruled as Emperor of the splinter state of the Roman Empire known to modern historians as the Gallic Empire. The Roman army in Gaul threw off its allegiance to G ...

. It appears that tableware was buried shortly afterwards, during the reign of

Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; c. 218 – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empi ...

, although the context of the find remains obscure. While a few of the objects date to the 2nd century, most originate from the 3rd century AD. The names of two people - Genialis and Cavarianus - are inscribed on some

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

vessels. They were probably the original owners of the service, who decided to bury the

hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

for safe-keeping. Six years after its discovery, the entire treasure was purchased by the British Museum.

Description

The Chaourse Treasure is made up of 39 objects in total, all of which are silver, apart from five small vessels and a silvered bronze mirror. There are four large serving platters; one of which has the

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

in its central medallion, another has a gilded figure of the Roman god

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

holding his

caduceus The caduceus (☤; ; la, cādūceus, from grc-gre, κηρύκειον "herald's wand, or staff") is the staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology and consequently by Hermes Trismegistus in Greco-Egyptian mythology. The same staff was also ...

flanked by a ram and a cockerel. In addition, there are plain silver drinking cups, various jugs, two large

situla Situla (plural ''situlae''), from the Latin word for bucket or pail, is the term in archaeology and art history for a variety of elaborate bucket-shaped vessels from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages, usually with a handle at the top. All types ma ...

s one of which has an acanthus-scroll frieze, shallow plates, hemispherical bowls (one of which was used for washing hands), flanged and fluted bowls (some with engraved decoration of animals amid floral patterns), some mirrors, an ornate strainer with floral and

geometric Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ca ...

designs, a statuette of the deity

Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...

and a pepper-pot in the shape of an African

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

-boy.

Gallery

Image:ChaourseTreasure-BM.JPG, Silver plate with the figure of Mercury in the central roundel Image:ChaourseTreasure-BM8.JPG, Platter with a six leafed star pattern in the centre Image:ChaourseTreasure-BM4.JPG, Two silver bowls with ornamented engraving Image:ChaourseTreasure-BM2.JPG, Various silver cups and bowls from the treasure Image:Chaourse Treasure -BM.JPG, Silver handled bucket or situla Image:ChaourseTreasure-BM7.JPG, Two platters beside three bowls and a small plate Image:ChaourseTreasure-BM5.JPG, Silver-gilt figure of Fortuna Image:ChaourseTreasure-BM3.JPG, Pepper-pot of squatting slave Image:ChaourseTreasure-BM9.JPG, Strainer with geometric design Image:ChaourseTreasure-BM6.JPG, Platter with swastika in centre next to various bowls and plates

Bibliography

*D. Strong, Greek and Roman Silver Plate (British Museum Press, 1966) *L. Burn, The British Museum Book of Greek and Roman Art (British Museum Press, 1991) *S. Walker, Roman Art (British Museum Press, 1991)

References

{{reflist 1883 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Europe Archaeological discoveries in France Ancient Greek and Roman objects in the British Museum Silver objects Treasure troves of late antiquity