![TerraSigillataRGM](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/TerraSigillataRGM.jpeg)
Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red
Ancient Roman pottery
Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome, mostly for utilitarian purposes. It is found all over the former Roman Empire and beyond. Monte Testaccio is a huge mound, waste mound in Rome made almost entirely of broken amphorae us ...
with glossy surface
slips Slips (or SLIPS) may refer to:
*Slips (oil drilling)
*SLIPS (Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces)
*SLIPS (company)
*SLIPS (Sri Lanka Interbank Payment System)
*Slip (cricket), often used in the plural form
*The Slips, a UK electronic music duo
...
made in specific areas of the Roman Empire; and more recently, as a description of a contemporary
studio pottery
Studio pottery is pottery made by professional and amateur artists or artisans working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs. Typically, all stages of manufacture are carried out by the artists themselves.Emmanuel Cooper, ...
technique supposedly inspired by ancient pottery. Usually roughly translated as 'sealed earth', the meaning of 'terra sigillata' is 'clay bearing little images' (Latin ''sigilla''), not 'clay with a sealed (impervious) surface'. The archaeological term is applied, however, to plain-surfaced pots as well as those decorated with figures in
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
.
Terra sigillata as an archaeological term refers chiefly to a specific type of plain and decorated tableware made in Italy and in Gaul (France and the Rhineland) during the Roman Empire. These vessels have glossy surface
slips Slips (or SLIPS) may refer to:
*Slips (oil drilling)
*SLIPS (Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces)
*SLIPS (company)
*SLIPS (Sri Lanka Interbank Payment System)
*Slip (cricket), often used in the plural form
*The Slips, a UK electronic music duo
...
ranging from a soft lustre to a brilliant glaze-like shine, in a characteristic colour range from pale orange to bright red; they were produced in standard shapes and sizes and were manufactured on an industrial scale and widely exported. The sigillata industries grew up in areas where there were existing traditions of pottery manufacture, and where the clay deposits proved suitable. The products of the Italian workshops are also known as Aretine ware from
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...
and have been collected and admired since the Renaissance. The wares made in the
Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
ish factories are often referred to by English-speaking archaeologists as samian ware. Closely related pottery fabrics made in the North African and Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire are not usually referred to as terra sigillata, but by more specific names, e.g.
African red slip ware
African red slip ware, also African Red Slip or ARS, is a category of '' terra sigillata'', or "fine" Ancient Roman pottery produced from the mid-1st century AD into the 7th century in the province of Africa Proconsularis, specifically that part ...
s. All these types of pottery are significant for archaeologists: they can often be closely dated, and their distribution casts light on aspects of the ancient Roman economy.
Modern "terra sig" should be clearly distinguished from the close reproductions of Roman wares made by some potters deliberately recreating and using the Roman methods. The finish called 'terra sigillata' by studio potters can be made from moist
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
, mixed as a very thin liquid slip and settled to separate out only the finest particles to be used as terra sigillata. When applied to unfired clay surfaces, "terra sig" can be polished with a soft cloth or brush to achieve a shine ranging from a smooth silky lustre to a high gloss. The surface of ancient terra sigillata vessels did not require this
burnishing or polishing. Burnishing was a technique used on some wares in the Roman period, but terra sigillata was not one of them. The polished surface can only be retained if fired within the low-fire range and will lose its shine if fired higher, but can still display an appealing silky quality.
Medicinal earth
The oldest use for the term terra sigillata was for a
medicinal clay
The use of medicinal clay in folk medicine goes back to prehistoric times. Indigenous peoples around the world still use clay widely, which is related to geophagy. The first recorded use of medicinal clay goes back to ancient Mesopotamia.
A wi ...
from the island of
Lemnos
Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...
. The latter was called "sealed" because cakes of it were pressed together and stamped with the head of
Artemis
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...
. Later, it bore the seal of the
Ottoman sultan
The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its hei ...
. This soil's particular mineral content was such that, in the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, it was seen as a proof against poisoning, as well as a general cure for any bodily impurities, and it was highly prized as a medicine and medicinal component.
In 1580, a miner named Adreas Berthold traveled around Germany selling Silesian terra sigillata made from a special clay dug from the hills outside the town of Striga, now
Strzegom, Poland, and processed into small tablets. He promoted it as a panacea effective against every type of poison and several diseases, including plague. Berthold invited authorities to test it themselves. In two cases, physicians, princes and town leaders conducted trials involving dogs who were either given poison followed by the antidote or poison alone; the dogs who got the antidote lived and the dogs who got the poison alone died. In 1581, a prince tested the antidote on a condemned criminal, who survived.
In 1588 English ethnographer and translator
Thomas Harriot
Thomas Harriot (; – 2 July 1621), also spelled Harriott, Hariot or Heriot, was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator to whom the theory of refraction is attributed. Thomas Harriot was also recognized for his cont ...
wrote in ''A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia'' that
Algonquians of the mid–Atlantic region treated various sores and wounds with ''wapeih'', a kind of terra sigillata that English surgeons and physicians found to be of the same kind "of vertue and more effectuall" than the contemporary European sort.
Roman red gloss pottery
![201005151401 NE CSM Aretinische TS](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/201005151401_NE_CSM_Aretinische_TS.jpg)
In archaeological usage, the term ''terra sigillata'' without further qualification normally denotes the Arretine ware of Italy, made at
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...
, and Gaulish samian ware manufactured first in South
Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
, particularly at
La Graufesenque
La Graufesenque is an archaeological site 2 km from Millau, Aveyron, France, at the confluence of the rivers Tarn and Dourbie. As Condatomagus (market of the confluent), it was famous in the Gallo-Roman period for the production of high qu ...
, near
Millau, and later at
Lezoux and adjacent sites near
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...
, and at east Gaulish sites such as
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
, Sinzig and
Rheinzabern
Rheinzabern is a small town in the south-east of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany near the Rhine river.
Currently, Rheinzabern, that belongs to the District of Germersheim has approx. 5000 inhabitants living on an area of 12,75 square kilometres.
...
. These high-quality tablewares were particularly popular and widespread in the Western Roman Empire from about 50 BC to the early 3rd century AD. Definitions of 'TS' have grown up from the earliest days of antiquarian studies, and are far from consistent; one survey of Classical art says:
''Terra sigillata'' ... is a Latin term used by modern scholars to designate a class of decorated red-gloss pottery .... not all red-gloss ware was decorated, and hence the more inclusive term 'Samian ware' is sometimes used to characterize all varieties of it.
- whereas Anthony King's definition, following the more usual practice among Roman pottery specialists, makes no mention of decoration, but states that terra sigillata is 'alternatively known as samian ware'. However, 'samian ware' is normally used only to refer to the sub-class of terra sigillata made in ancient Gaul. In European languages other than English, terra sigillata, or a translation (e.g. ''terre sigillée''), is always used for both Italian and Gaulish products. Nomenclature has to be established at an early stage of research into a subject, and antiquarians of the 18th and 19th centuries often used terms that we would not choose today, but as long as their meaning is clear and well-established, this does not matter, and detailed study of the history of the terminology is really a side-issue that is of academic interest only. Scholars writing in English now often use "red gloss wares" or "red slip wares", both to avoid these issues of definition, and also because many other wares of the Roman period share aspects of technique with the traditional sigillata fabrics.
![Roman pottery samian form Dr 29 edit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Roman_pottery_samian_form_Dr_29_edit.jpg)
Italian and Gaulish TS vessels were made in standardised shapes constituting services of matching dishes, bowls and serving vessels. These changed and evolved over time, and have been very minutely classified; the first major scheme, by the German classical archaeologist
Hans Dragendorff
Hans Dragendorff (15 October 1870 in Dorpat (Tartu), Estonia – 29 January 1941 in Freiburg, Germany) was a Baltic German scholar who introduced the first classification system for the type of Ancient Roman pottery known as Samian ware ...
(1895), is still in use (as e.g. "Dr.29"), and there have been many others, such as the classifications of Déchelette, Knorr, Hermet, Walters, Curle, Loeschcke, Ritterling, Hermet and Ludowici, and more recently, the ''Conspectus'' of Arretine forms and Hayes's type-series of African Red Slip and Eastern sigillatas. These reference sometimes make it possible to date the manufacture of a broken decorated sherd to within 20 years or less.
Most of the forms that were decorated with figures in low relief were thrown in pottery moulds, the inner surfaces of which had been decorated using fired-clay stamps or punches (usually referred to as ''poinçons'') and some free-hand work using a
stylus. The mould was therefore decorated on its interior surface with a full decorative design of impressed, intaglio (hollowed) motifs that would appear in low relief on any bowl formed in it. As the bowl dried, the shrinkage was sufficient for it to be withdrawn from the mould, in order to carry out any finishing work, which might include the addition of foot-rings, the shaping and finishing of rims, and in all cases the application of the slip.
Barbotine
Barbotine is the French for ceramic slip, or a mixture of clay and water used for moulding or decorating pottery. In English the term is used for three different techniques of decorating pottery, though in all cases mainly for historical works. ...
and
appliqué
Appliqué is ornamental needlework in which pieces or patches of fabric in different shapes and patterns are sewn or stuck onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern. It is commonly used as decoration, especially on garments. The technique ...
('sprigged') techniques were sometimes used to decorate vessels of closed forms. Study of the characteristic decorative
motifs, combined in some cases with name-stamps of workshops incorporated into the decoration, and also sometimes with the
cursive
Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...
signatures of mouldmakers, makes it possible to build up a very detailed knowledge of the industry. Careful observation of form and fabric is therefore usually enough for an archaeologist experienced in the study of sigillata to date and identify a broken
sherd: a potter's stamp or moulded decoration provides even more precise evidence. The classic guide by Oswald and Pryce, published in 1920 set out many of the principles, but the literature on the subject goes back into the 19th century, and is now extremely voluminous, including many monographs on specific regions, as well as excavation reports on important sites that have produced significant assemblages of sigillata wares, and articles in learned journals, some of which are dedicated to Roman pottery studies.
![La Graufesenque samian kiln](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/La_Graufesenque_samian_kiln.jpg)
The motifs and designs on the
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
-decorated wares echo the general traditions of Graeco-Roman decorative arts, with depictions of deities, references to myths and legends, and popular themes such as hunting and erotic scenes. Individual figure-types, like the vessel-shapes, have been classified, and in many cases they may be linked with specific potters or workshops. Some of the decoration relates to contemporary architectural ornament, with
egg-and-tongue (ovolo) mouldings,
acanthus and vine
scrolls
A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing.
Structure
A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papy ...
and the like. While the decoration of Arretine ware is often highly naturalistic in style, and is closely comparable with silver tableware of the same period, the designs on the Gaulish products, made by provincial artisans adopting Classical subjects, are intriguing for their expression of '
romanisation
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
', the fusion of Classical and native cultural and artistic traditions.
Many of the Gaulish manufacturing sites have been extensively excavated and studied. At
La Graufesenque
La Graufesenque is an archaeological site 2 km from Millau, Aveyron, France, at the confluence of the rivers Tarn and Dourbie. As Condatomagus (market of the confluent), it was famous in the Gallo-Roman period for the production of high qu ...
in southern Gaul, documentary evidence in the form of lists or tallies apparently fired with single kiln-loads, giving potters' names and numbers of pots have long been known, and they suggest very large loads of 25,000–30,000 vessels. Though not all the kilns at this, or other, manufacturing sites were so large, the excavation of the ''grand four'' (big kiln) at La Graufesenque, which was in use in the late 1st and early 2nd century, confirms the scale of the industry. It is a rectangular stone-built structure measuring 11.3 m. by 6.8 m. externally, with an original height estimated at 7 metres. With up to nine 'storeys' within (dismantled after each firing), formed of tile floors and vertical columns in the form of clay pipes or tubes, which also served to conduct the heat, it has been estimated that it was capable of firing 30,000–40,000 vessels at a time, at a temperature of around 1000 °C.
A 2005 work has shown that the slip is a matrix of mainly silicon and aluminium oxides, within which are suspended sub-microscopic crystals of haematite and corundum. The matrix itself does not contain any metallic ions, the haematite is substituted in aluminium and titanium while the corundum is substituted in iron. The two crystal populations are homogenously dispersed within the matrix. The colour of haematite depends on the crystal size. Large crystals of this mineral are black but as the size decreases to sub-micron the colour shifts to red. The fraction of aluminium has a similar effect. It was formerly thought that the difference between 'red' and 'black' samian was due to the presence (black) or absence (red) of reducing gases from the kiln and that the construction of the kiln was so arranged as to prevent the reducing gases from the fuel from coming into contact with the pottery. The presence of iron oxides in the clay/slip was thought to be reflected in the colour according to the oxidation state of the iron (Fe
IIfor the red and Fe
Ifor the black, the latter produced by the reducing gases coming into contact with the pottery during firing). It now appears as a result of this recent work that this is not the case and that the colour of the glossy slip is in fact due to no more than the crystal size of the minerals dispersed within the matrix glass.
Forerunners
Arretine ware, in spite of its very distinctive appearance, was an integral part of the wider picture of fine ceramic tablewares in the Graeco-Roman world of the
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
and early Roman period. That picture must itself be seen in relation to the luxury tablewares made of silver. Centuries before Italian terra sigillata was made,
Attic painted vases, and later their regional variants made in Italy, involved the preparation of a very fine clay body covered with a slip that fired to a glossy surface without the need for any polishing or burnishing. Greek painted wares also involved the precise understanding and control of firing conditions to achieve the contrasts of black and red.
![Campanian ware phiale with relief decoration](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Campanian_ware_phiale_with_relief_decoration.JPG)
Glossy-slipped black pottery made in
Etruria
Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria.
Etruscan Etruria
The ancient people of Etruria
are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...
and
Campania
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
continued this technological tradition, though painted decoration gave way to simpler stamped motifs and in some cases, to applied motifs moulded in relief. The tradition of decorating entire vessels in low relief was also well established in Greece and Asia Minor by the time the Arretine industry began to expand in the middle of the 1st century BC, and examples were imported into Italy. Relief-decorated cups, some in lead-glazed wares, were produced at several eastern centres, and undoubtedly played a part in the technical and stylistic evolution of decorated Arretine, but Megarian bowls, made chiefly in Greece and Asia Minor, are usually seen as the most direct inspiration. These are small, hemispherical bowls without foot-rings, and their decoration is frequently very reminiscent of contemporary silver bowls, with formalised, radiating patterns of leaves and flowers. The crisp and precisely profiled forms of the plain dishes and cups were also part of a natural evolution of taste and fashion in the Mediterranean world of the 1st century BC.
Arretine ware
![Arretine ware poinçon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Arretine_ware_poin%C3%A7on.JPG)
Arretine ware began to be manufactured at and near
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...
(Tuscany) a little before the middle of the 1st century BC. The industry expanded rapidly in a period when Roman political and military influence was spreading far beyond Italy: for the inhabitants of the first provinces of the Roman Empire in the reign of the Emperor Augustus (''reg.'' 27 BC – AD 14), this tableware, with its precise forms, shiny surface, and, on the decorated vessels, its visual introduction to Classical art and mythology, must have deeply impressed some inhabitants of the new northern provinces of the Empire. Certainly it epitomised certain aspects of Roman taste and technical expertise. Pottery industries in the areas we now call north-east France and
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
quickly began to copy the shapes of plain Arretine dishes and cups in the wares now known as Gallo-Belgic, and in South and Central Gaul, it was not long before local potters also began to emulate the mould-made decoration and the glossy red slip itself.
The most recognisable decorated Arretine form is Dragendorff 11, a large, deep goblet on a high pedestal base, closely resembling some silver table vessels of the same period, such as the
Warren Cup
The Warren Cup is an ancient Greco-Roman silver drinking cup decorated in relief with two images of male same-sex acts. It was purchased by the British Museum for £1.8 million in 1999, the most expensive single purchase by the museum at that ...
. The
iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
, too, tended to match the subjects and styles seen on silver plate, namely mythological and genre scenes, including erotic subjects, and small decorative details of swags, leafy wreaths and ovolo (
egg-and-tongue) borders that may be compared with elements of Augustan architectural ornament. The deep form of the Dr.11 allowed the ''poinçons'' (stamps) used making the moulds of human and animal figures to be fairly large, often about 5–6 cm high, and the modelling is frequently very accomplished indeed, attracting the interest of modern art-historians as well as archaeologists. Major workshops, such as those of M.Perennius Tigranus, P. Cornelius and Cn. Ateius, stamped their products, and the names of the factory-owners and of the workers within the factories, which often appear on completed bowls and on plain wares, have been extensively studied, as have the forms of the vessels, and the details of their dating and distribution.
![Arretine mould](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Arretine_mould.JPG)
Italian sigillata was not made only at or near Arezzo itself: some of the important Arezzo businesses had branch factories in
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
, and by the beginning of the 1st century AD, the Ateius and Rasinius workshops had set up branch factories at La Muette, near
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
in Central Gaul. Nor were the classic Arretine wares of the Augustan period the only forms of terra sigillata made in Italy: later sigillata industries in the
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...
and elsewhere continued the tradition. The history of sigillata manufacture in Italy is succinctly summarised in Hayes 1997, pages 41–52.
In the Middle Ages, examples of the ware that were serendipitously discovered in digging foundations in Arezzo drew admiring attention as early as the 13th century, when
Restoro d'Arezzo Ristoro or Restoro d'Arezzo was an Italian monk and scientist of the Middle Ages. Italian scholar Enrico Narducci calls him the ' Humboldt' of the thirteenth century.
Life and works
Restoro was born in Arezzo, Tuscany, at an unknown date in the ...
's massive encyclopedia included a chapter praising the refined Roman ware discovered in his native city, "what is perhaps the first account of an aspect of ancient art to be written since classical times". The chronicler
Giovanni Villani
Giovanni Villani (; 1276 or 1280 – 1348)Bartlett (1992), 35. was an Italian banker, official, diplomat and chronicler from Florence who wrote the ''Nuova Cronica'' (''New Chronicles'') on the history of Florence. He was a leading statesman ...
also mentioned the ware.
The first published study of Arretine ware was that of Fabroni in 1841, and by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, German scholars in particular had made great advances in systematically studying and understanding both Arretine ware and the Gaulish samian that occurred on Roman military sites being excavated in Germany. Dragendorff's classification was expanded by other scholars, including S. Loeschcke in his study of the Italian sigillata excavated at the early Roman site of
Haltern
Haltern am See (''Haltern at the lake'', before December 2001 only Haltern) is a town and a municipality in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the Lippe and the Wesel–Datteln Canal, approx. nor ...
. Research on Arretine ware has continued very actively throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, for example with the publication and revision of Oxé-Comfort and the ''Conspectus'' of forms, bringing earlier work on stamps and shapes up to date. As with all ancient pottery studies, each generation asks new questions and applies new techniques (such as analysis of clays) in the attempt to find the answers.
South Gaulish samian ware
Sigillata vessels, both plain and decorated, were manufactured at several centres in southern France, including
Bram
Bram may refer to:
People
* Bram (given name)
* Bram (surname)
* Bram (wrestler) (born 1986), ring name of professional wrestler Thomas Raymond Latimer
* Bram Tchaikovsky (born 1950), stage name of British musician Peter Bramall
* Bram Stoker Iris ...
,
Montans
Montans is a Communes of France, commune in the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department and Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of southern France.
Geography
Situated between Lisle-sur-Tarn and ...
, La Graufesenque,
Le Rozier
Le Rozier (; oc, Lo Rosièr) is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France.
Geography
The river Jonte joins the Tarn in Le Rozier.
See also
*Communes of the Lozère department
*Causse Méjean
Causse Méjean is a limestone pla ...
and
Banassac, from the late 1st century BC: of these, La Graufesenque, near Millau, was the principal producer and exporter. Although the establishment of sigillata potteries in Gaul may well have arisen initially to meet local demand and to undercut the prices of imported Italian goods, they became enormously successful in their own right, and by the later 1st century AD, South Gaulish samian was being exported not only to other provinces in the north-west of the Empire, but also to Italy and other regions of the Mediterranean, North Africa and even the eastern Empire. One of the finds in the ruins of
Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
, destroyed by the eruption of
Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma- stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...
in August AD 79, was a consignment of South Gaulish sigillata, still in its packing crate; like all finds from the Vesuvian sites, this hoard of pottery is invaluable as dating evidence.
![Roman pottery South Gaulish samian ware](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Roman_pottery_South_Gaulish_samian_ware.jpg)
South Gaulish samian typically has a redder slip and deeper pink fabric than Italian sigillata. The best slips, vivid red and of an almost mirror-like brilliance, were achieved during the
Claudian
Claudius Claudianus, known in English as Claudian (; c. 370 – c. 404 AD), was a Latin poet associated with the court of the Roman emperor Honorius at Mediolanum (Milan), and particularly with the general Stilicho. His work, written almost ent ...
and early
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
nian periods (Claudius, ''reg''. AD 41–54; Nero, ''reg''. AD 54–68). At the same period, some workshops experimented briefly with a marbled red-and-yellow slip, a variant that never became generally popular. Early production of plain forms in South Gaul initially followed the Italian models closely, and even the characteristic Arretine decorated form, Dragendorff 11, was made. But many new shapes quickly evolved, and by the second half of the 1st century AD, when Italian sigillata was no longer influential, South Gaulish samian had created its own characteristic repertoire of forms. The two principal decorated forms were Dragendorff 30, a deep, cylindrical bowl, and Dragendorff 29, a carinated ('keeled') shallow bowl with a marked angle, emphasised by a moulding, mid-way down the profile. The footring is low, and potters' stamps are usually bowl-maker's marks placed in the interior base, so that vessels made from the same, or parallel, moulds may bear different names. The rim of the 29, small and upright in early examples of the form, but much deeper and more everted by the 70s of the 1st century, is finished with rouletted decoration, and the relief-decorated surfaces necessarily fall into two narrow zones. These were usually decorated with floral and foliate designs of wreaths and scrolls at first: the Dr.29 resting on its rim illustrated in the lead section of this article is an early example, less angular than the developed form of the 60s and 70s, with decoration consisting of simple, very elegant leaf-scrolls. Small human and animal figures, and more complex designs set out in separate panels, became more popular by the 70s of the 1st century. Larger human and animal figures could be used on the Dr.30 vessels, but while many of these have great charm, South Gaulish craftsmen never achieved, and perhaps never aspired to, the Classical naturalism of some of their Italian counterparts.
![Samian ware bowl by Mercato](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Samian_ware_bowl_by_Mercato.JPG)
In the last two decades of the 1st century, the Dragendorff 37, a deep, rounded vessel with a plain upright rim, overtook the 29 in popularity. This simple shape remained the standard Gaulish samian relief-decorated form, from all Gaulish manufacturing regions, for more than a century. Small relief-decorated
beakers such as forms Déchelette 67 and Knorr 78 were also made in South Gaul, as were occasional 'one-off' or very ambitious mould-made vessels, such as large thin-walled flagons and flasks. But the mass of South Gaulish samian found on Roman sites of the 1st century AD consists of plain dishes, bowls and cups, especially Dr.18 (a shallow dish) and Dr.27 (a little cup with a distinctive double curve to the profile), many of which bear potters' name-stamps, and the large decorated forms 29, 30 and 37.
A local industry inspired by Arretine and South Gaulish imports grew up in the
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
n provinces in the 1st century AD. ''Terra sigillata hispanica'' developed its own distinctive forms and designs, and continued in production into the late Roman period, the 4th and 5th centuries AD. It was not exported to other regions.
Central Gaulish samian ware
![Central Gaulish samian Dr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Central_Gaulish_samian_Dr.30.JPG)
The principal Central Gaulish samian potteries were situated at Lezoux and
Les Martres-de-Veyre
Les Martres-de-Veyre (, literally ''Les Martres of Veyre''; oc, Las Martras) is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department
The following is a list of ...
, not far from
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...
in the
Auvergne
Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...
. Production had already begun at Lezoux in the
Augustan period (Augustus, ''reg''. 27 BC–AD 14), but it was not until the reign of
Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
(AD 98–117), and the beginning of a decline in the South Gaulish export trade, that Central Gaulish samian ware became important outside its own region. Though it never achieved the extensive geographical distribution of the South Gaulish factories, in the provinces of Gaul and
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, it was by far the most common type of fine tableware, plain and decorated, in use during the 2nd century AD. The quality of the ware and the slip is usually excellent, and some of the products of Les Martres-de-Veyre, in particular, are outstanding, with a lustrous slip and a very hard, dense body. The surface colour tends towards a more orange-red hue than the typical South Gaulish slips.
Vessel-forms that had been made in South Gaul continued to be produced, though as the decades passed, they evolved and changed with the normal shifts of fashion, and some new shapes were created, such as the plain bowl with a horizontal flange below the rim, Dr.38.
Mortaria
A mortarium (pl. "mortaria") was one of a class of Ancient Roman pottery kitchen vessels. They are "hemispherical or conical bowls, commonly with heavy flanges", and with coarse sand or grit embedded into the internal surface. They were used for p ...
, food-preparation bowls with a gritted interior surface, were also made in Central Gaulish samian fabric in the second half of the 2nd century (Dr.45). There is a small sub-class of Central Gaulish samian ware with a glossy black slip, though the dividing line between black terra sigillata and other fine black-gloss wares, which were also manufactured in the area, is sometimes hazy. When a vessel is a classic samian form and decorated in relief in the style of a known samian potter, but finished with black slip rather than a red one, it may be classed as black samian.
![Roman pottery Central Gaulish samian jar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Roman_pottery_Central_Gaulish_samian_jar.JPG)
Though the Central Gaulish forms continued and built upon the South Gaulish traditions, the decoration of the principal decorated forms, Dr.30 and Dr.37, was distinctive. New human and animal figure-types appeared, generally modelled with greater realism and sophistication than those of La Graufesenque and other South Gaulish centres. Figure-types and decorative details have been classified, and can often be linked to specific workshops Lezoux wares also included vases decorated with
barbotine
Barbotine is the French for ceramic slip, or a mixture of clay and water used for moulding or decorating pottery. In English the term is used for three different techniques of decorating pottery, though in all cases mainly for historical works. ...
relief, with appliqué motifs, and a class usually referred to as 'cut-glass' decoration, with geometric patterns cut into the surface of the vessel before slipping and firing. Two standard 'plain' types made in considerable numbers in Central Gaul also included barbotine decoration, Dr.35 and 36, a matching cup and dish with a curved horizontal rim embellished with a stylised scroll of leaves in relief.
During the second half of the 2nd century, some Lezoux workshops making relief-decorated bowls, above all that of Cinnamus, dominated the market with their large production. The wares of Cinnamus, Paternus, Divixtus, Doeccus, Advocisus, Albucius and some others often included large, easily legible name-stamps incorporated into the decoration, clearly acting as brand-names or advertisements. Though these vessels were very competently made, they are heavy and somewhat coarse in form and finish compared with earlier Gaulish samian ware.
From the end of the 2nd century, the export of sigillata from Central Gaul rapidly, perhaps even abruptly, ceased. Pottery production continued, but in the 3rd century, it reverted to being a local industry.
East Gaulish samian ware
![Rheinzabern samian vase](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Rheinzabern_samian_vase.JPG)
There were numerous potteries manufacturing terra sigillata in East Gaul, which included
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
, the
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
, and the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
and
Mosel regions, but while the samian pottery from
Luxeuil
Luxeuil-les-Bains () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.
History
Luxeuil (sometimes rendered Luxeu in older texts) was the Roman Luxovium and contained many fine buildings ...
,
La Madeleine, Chémery-Faulquemont,
Lavoye
Lavoye () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regi ...
,
Remagen
Remagen ( ) is a town in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the left (western) bank of the ...
,
Sinzig
Sinzig is a town in the district of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Rhine, about 5 km south-east of Remagen and 25 km south-east of Bonn, and it has approximately 20,000 inhabitants (2004).
...
, Blickweiler and other sites is of interest and importance mainly to specialists, two sources stand out because their wares are often found outside their own immediate areas, namely
Rheinzabern
Rheinzabern is a small town in the south-east of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany near the Rhine river.
Currently, Rheinzabern, that belongs to the District of Germersheim has approx. 5000 inhabitants living on an area of 12,75 square kilometres.
...
, near
Speyer
Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...
, and
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
.
The Trier potteries evidently began to make samian vessels around the beginning of the 2nd century AD, and were still active until the middle of the 3rd century. The styles and the potters have been divided by scholars into two main phases, Werkstatten I and II. Some of the later mould-made Dr.37 bowls are of very poor quality, with crude decoration and careless finishing.
The Rheinzabern kilns and their products have been studied since Wilhelm Ludowici (1855–1929) began to excavate there in 1901, and to publish his results in a series of detailed reports. Rheinzabern produced both decorated and plain forms for around a century from the middle of the 2nd century. Some of the Dr.37 bowls, for example those with the workshop stamp of Ianus, bear comparison with Central Gaulish products of the same date: others are less successful. But the real strength of the Rheinzabern industry lay in its extensive production of good-quality samian cups, beakers, flagons and vases, many imaginatively decorated with barbotine designs or in the 'cut-glass' incised technique. Ludowici created his own type-series, which sometimes overlaps with those of other sigillata specialists. Ludowici's types use combinations of upper- and lower-case letters rather than simple numbers, the first letter referring to the general shape, such as 'T' for ''Teller'' (dish).
In general, the products of the East Gaulish industries moved away from the early imperial Mediterranean tradition of intricately profiled dishes and cups, and ornamented bowls made in moulds, and converged with the later Roman local traditions of pottery-making in the northern provinces, using free-thrown, rounded forms and creating relief designs with freehand slip-trailing. Fashions in fine tablewares were changing. Some East Gaulish producers made bowls and cups decorated only with rouletted or stamped decoration, and in the 3rd and 4th centuries,
Argonne ware, decorated with all-over patterns of small stamps, was made in the area east of Rheims and quite widely traded. Argonne ware was essentially still a type of sigillata, and the most characteristic form is a small, sturdy Dr.37 bowl. Small, localised attempts to make conventional relief-decorated samian ware included a brief and unsuccessful venture at
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
in Britain, apparently initiated by potters from the East Gaulish factories at Sinzig, a centre that was itself an offshoot of the Trier workshops.
Eastern sigillatas
In the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, there had been several industries making fine red tablewares with smooth, glossy-slipped surfaces since about the middle of the 2nd century BC, well before the rise of the Italian sigillata workshops. By the 1st century BC, their forms often paralleled Arretine plain-ware shapes quite closely. There were evidently centres of production in
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
; in western Turkey, exported through
Ephesos
Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in ...
;
Pergamon
Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a ...
;
Çandarlı
Çandarlı is a coastal township with own municipality within the district of Dikili in western Turkey's İzmir Province. It is a well-developed town and an important tourist resort. It is a fishing village, were a lot of daily life revolves aro ...
, near Pergamon; and on
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
, but archaeologists often refer to
eastern sigillata A from Northern
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
eastern sigillata B from
Tralles in Asia Minor,
eastern sigillata C from ancient
Pitane, and
eastern sigillata D (or Cypriot sigillata) from Cyprus, as there is still much to be learnt about this material. While eastern sigillata C is known to come from Çandarli (ancient
Pitane), there were likely other workshops in the wider region of
Pergamon
Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a ...
. By the early 2nd century AD, when Gaulish samian was completely dominating the markets in the Northern provinces, the eastern sigillatas were themselves beginning to be displaced by the rising importance of African Red Slip wares in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Empire. In the fourth century AD,
Phocaean red slip Phocaean red slip (PRS) is a category of ''terra sigillata'', or "fine" Ancient Roman pottery produced in or near the ancient city of Phokaia in Asia Minor. It is recognizable by its thin reddish slip over a fine fabric, often with occasional white ...
appears as a successor to Eastern sigillata C.
In the 1980s two primary groups of Eastern Terra Sigillata in the Eastern Mediterranean basin were distinguished as ETS-I and ETS-II based on their chemical fingerprints as shown by analysis by instrumental
neutron activation analysis (INAA). ETS-I originated in Eastern
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
, whereas the ETS-II was probably made in
Pamphylia
Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north by ...
, at
Perge
Perga or Perge ( Hittite: ''Parha'', el, Πέργη ''Perge'', tr, Perge) was originally an ancient Lycian settlement that later became a Greek city in Pamphylia. It was the capital of the Roman province of Pamphylia Secunda, now located in ...
,
Aspendos
Aspendos or Aspendus ( Pamphylian: ΕΣΤϜΕΔΥΣ; Attic: Ἄσπενδος) was an ancient Greco-Roman city in Antalya province of Turkey. The site is located 40 km east of the modern city of Antalya.
It was situated on the Eurymedon ...
and
Side
Side or Sides may refer to:
Geometry
* Edge (geometry) of a polygon (two-dimensional shape)
* Face (geometry) of a polyhedron (three-dimensional shape)
Places
* Side (Ainis), a town of Ainis, ancient Thessaly, Greece
* Side (Caria), a town of an ...
. However this classification has been criticized, and is not universally accepted. A potter's quarter at
Sagalassos
Sagalassos ( el, Σαγαλασσός), also known as Selgessos ( el, Σελγησσός) and Sagallesos ( el, Σαγαλλησός), is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya (ancient Attaleia) and 30& ...
inland from the southern Turkish coast has been excavated since it was discovered in 1987, and its wares traced to many sites in the region. It was active from around 25 to 550 AD.
African red slip ware
![Roman pottery African Red Slip](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Roman_pottery_African_Red_Slip.jpg)
African red slip ware (ARS) was the final development of terra sigillata. While the products of the Italian and Gaulish red-gloss industries flourished and were exported from their places of manufacture for at most a century or two each, ARS production continued for more than 500 years. The centres of production were in the Roman provinces of
Africa Proconsularis
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
Byzacena
Byzacena (or Byzacium) ( grc, Βυζάκιον, ''Byzakion'') was a Late Roman province in the central part of Roman North Africa, which is now roughly Tunisia, split off from Africa Proconsularis.
History
At the end of the 3rd century AD, t ...
and
Numidia
Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...
; that is, modern
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
and part of eastern
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
. From about the 4th century AD, competent copies of the fabric and forms were also made in several other regions, including
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, the eastern Mediterranean and Egypt. Over the long period of production, there was obviously much change and evolution in both forms and fabrics. Both Italian and Gaulish plain forms influenced ARS in the 1st and 2nd centuries (for example, Hayes Form 2, the cup or dish with an outcurved rim decorated with barbotine leaves, is a direct copy of the samian forms Dr.35 and 36, made in South and Central Gaul), but over time a distinctive ARS repertoire developed.
![African Red Slip vessels](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/African_Red_Slip_vessels.JPG)
There was a wide range of dishes and bowls, many with rouletted or stamped decoration, and closed forms such as tall ovoid flagons with appliqué ornament (Hayes Form 171). The ambitious large rectangular dishes with relief decoration in the centre and on the wide rims (Hayes Form 56), were clearly inspired by decorated silver platters of the 4th century, which were made in rectangular and polygonal shapes as well as in the traditional circular form. Decorative motifs reflected not only the Graeco-Roman traditions of the Mediterranean, but eventually the rise of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
as well. There is a great variety of monogram crosses and plain crosses amongst the stamps.
Gallery of Roman terra sigillata
File:South_Gaulish_marbled_samian_cup_1.JPG, South Gaulish cup, form Hofheim 8, with a marbled slip
File:Samian_ware_cup_Dr.27.JPG, South Gaulish cup of form Dragendorff 27
File:Dragendorff_38_Haselburg.jpg, Flanged bowl, Dr.38, with profile drawing
File:Terra_sigillata-Teller_in_Gie%C3%9Fen_2.jpg, Gaulish Dr.36, with barbotine decoration on the rim
File:Samian_Dr_11_copy.jpg, Profile drawing of form Dragendorff 11. 1st century BC–early 1st century AD
File:Roman_pottery_samian_ware_form_Dr_37.jpg, Profile drawing of form Dragendorff 37. 1st–3rd century AD
File:Roman_pottery_samian_form_Dr_30.jpg, Profile drawing of form Dragendorff 30. 1st-2nd century AD
Modern pottery
In contrast to the archaeological usage, in which the term ''terra sigillata'' refers to a whole class of pottery, in contemporary
ceramic art
Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whi ...
, 'terra sigillata' describes only a watery refined slip used to facilitate the
burnish
Burnishing may refer to:
* Burnishing (metal), plastic deformation of a surface due to sliding contact with another object
* Burnishing (pottery)
Burnishing is a form of pottery treatment in which the surface of the pot is polished, using a ...
ing of raw clay surfaces to promote glossy surface effects in low fire techniques, including
primitive and unglazed alternative western-style
Raku firing. Terra sigillata is also used as a brushable decorative colourant medium in higher temperature
glazed ceramic techniques.
In 1906 the German potter Karl Fischer re-invented the method of making terra sigillata of Roman quality and obtained patent protection for this procedure at the ''
Kaiserliche Patentamt'' in Berlin.
[Patent No. 206 395, Class 80b, Group 23; according to: Heinl, Rudolf; ''Die Kunsttöpferfamilie Fischer aus Sulzbach'', Sulzbach-Rosenberg 1984; Patents in the UK, France and the USA are reported in the source, yet without patent-number]
Making modern terra sigillata
Modern terra sigillata is made by allowing the
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
particles to separate into layers by particle size. A
deflocculant
Flocculation, in the field of chemistry, is a process by which colloidal particles come out of suspension to sediment under the form of floc or flake, either spontaneously or due to the addition of a clarifying agent. The action differs from pr ...
such as
sodium silicate is often added to the watery clay/water slip mixture to facilitate separation of fine particle
flocs or aggregates. For undisturbed deflocculated slip settling in a transparent container, these layers are usually visible within 24 hours. Siphoning off the topmost layers of slip, which contain the smallest clay particles, produces terra sigillata. The remaining larger clay-particle layers are discarded.
Terra sigillata is usually brushed or sprayed in thin layers onto dry or almost dry unfired ware. The ware is then burnished with a soft cloth before the water in the terra sigillata soaks into the porous body or with a hard, smooth-surfaced object . The burnished ware is fired, often to a lower temperature than normal bisque temperature of approximately 900 °C. Higher firing temperatures tend to remove the burnished effect because the clay particles start to recrystallize.
Reuse of Roman pottery
Since the 18th century Samian ware pots have been found in sufficient numbers in the sea near
Whitstable
Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of ...
and
Herne Bay
Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local governmen ...
that local people used them for cooking.
See also
*
Cimolian earth
Notes
References
*
Boardman, John ed., ''The Oxford History of Classical Art'', 1993, OUP,
*Brown, A.C. ''Catalogue of Italian Terra-Sigillata in the Ashmolean Museum'', Oxford 1968
*de la Bédoyère, G., ''Samian Ware'', 1988,
*Chenet, G., ''La céramique gallo-romaine d'Argonne du IVe siècle et la terre sigillée décorée à la molette,'' Mâcon 1941
*Déchelette, Joseph, ''Les vases céramiques ornés de la Gaule romaine'', Paris 1904
*Dragendorff, Hans, 'Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der griechischen und römischen Keramik', ''Bonner Jahrbücher'' 96 (1895)
*Dragendorff, H. & Watzinger, C., ''Arretinische Reliefkeramik'', Reutlingen 1948
*Ettlinger, Elisabeth, ''et al.'', ''Conspectus formarum terrae sigillatae italico modo confectae'', Frankfurt and Bonn, 1990.
*Fabroni, A., ''Storia degli antichi vasi fittili aretini'', Arezzo 1841
*Fischer, Charlotte, ''Die Terra-Sigillata-Manufaktur von Sinzig am Rhein'', Düsseldorf 1969
*Garbsch, Jochen, ''Terra Sigillata. Ein Weltreich im Spiegel seines Luxusgeschirrs'', München 1982
*Hartley, Brian &
Dickinson, Brenda, ''Names on terra sigillata: an index of makers' stamps and signatures on Gallo-Roman terra sigillata (samian ware), Vol. 1 (A to AXO), Vol.2 (B to CEROTCUS'' 2008 and
*Hayes, John W., ''Late Roman Pottery'', London 1972
*Hayes, John W., ''Supplement to Late Roman Pottery'', London 1980
*Hayes, John W., ''Handbook of Mediterranean Roman Pottery'', 1997,
*Hermet, F., ''La Graufesenque'', Paris 1934
*Hübener, W., 'Eine Studie zur spätrömischen Rädchensigillata (Argonnensigillata)', ''Bonner Jahrbücher'' 168 (1968), pp. 241–298
*Huld-Zetsche, Ingeborg, ''Trierer Reliefsigillata: Werkstatt I''. Bonn 1972
*Huld-Zetsche, Ingeborg, ''Trierer Reliefsigillata: Werkstatt II''. Bonn 1993
*Hull, M.R., ''The Roman potters' kilns of Colchester,'' Oxford 1963
*Johns, Catherine, ''Arretine and samian pottery'', London 1971, revised edn. 1977
*King, Anthony, 'A graffito from La Graufesenque and ''samia vasa'' ' ''Britannia'' 11 (1980), pp. 139–143
*King, Anthony in: Henig, Martin (ed), ''A Handbook of Roman Art'', Phaidon, 1983,
*Knorr, Robert, ''Töpfer und Fabriken verzierter Terra-sigillata des ersten Jahrhunderts'', Stuttgart 1919
*Knorr, R., ''Terra-Sigillata-Gefässe des ersten Jahrhunderts mit Töpfernamen'', Stuttgart 1952
*Loeschcke, S., ''Keramische Funde in Haltern'', Münster 1909
*Ludowici, W., ''Katalog V. Stempel-Namen und Bilder römischer Töpfer, Legions-Ziegel-Stempel, Formen von Sigillata und anderen Gefäßen aus meinen Ausgrabungen in Rheinzabern 1901-1914''. Jockgrim 1927
*Noble, Joseph V., ''The Techniques of Painted Attic Pottery'', New York, 1965
*Oswald, Felix, ''Index of Potters' Stamps on Terra Sigillata'', privately printed, 1931
*Oswald, Felix, ''Index of figure-types on Terra Sigillata'', Liverpool, 1937-7
*Oswald, Felix & Pryce, T.D., ''An Introduction to the study of terra sigillata'', London 1920
*Oxé, August & Comfort, Howard, ''A Catalogue of the Signatures, Shapes and Chronology of Italian Sigillata'', Bonn 1968, revised by Philip Kenrick, Bonn 2000, .
*Ricken, H. (ed), ''Die Bilderschüsseln der römischen Töpfer von Rheinzabern'' (Tafelband), Darmstadt 1942 (= Ludowici Kat.VI)
*Ricken, H. & Fischer, Charlotte,(eds.) ''Die Bilderschüsseln der römischen Töpfer von Rheinzabern'' (Text), Bonn 1963 (= Ludowici Kat.VI)
*Ritterling, E., 'Das frührömische Lager bei Hofheim im Taunus', ''Annalen des Vereins für Nassauische Altertumskunde'', 40, Wiesbaden 1913
*Roberts, Paul, 'Mass-production of Roman Finewares', in Ian Freestone & David Gaimster, ''Pottery in the Making: World Ceramic Traditions'', London 1997, pp. 188–193
*Sciau, P., Relaix, S., Kihn, Y. & Roucau, C., "The role of Microstructure and Composition in the Brilliant Red Slip of Roman Terra Sigillata Pottery from Southern Gaul", ''Mater.Res.Soc.Proc.'', Vol.852, 006.5.1-6, 2005
*Stanfield, J., & Simpson, Grace, ''Central Gaulish Potters'', London 1958: revised edition, ''Les potiers de la Gaule Centrale'', Gonfaron 1990
*Tyers, Paul, ''Roman Pottery in Britain'', London 1996
*Vernhet, A., ''Un four de la Graufesenque (Aveyron): la cuisson des vases sigillés'', ''Gallia'' 39 (1981), pp. 25–43
*Webster, Peter, ''Roman samian pottery in Britain'', York 1996
Further reading
*Hayes, John W. 1972. ''Late Roman Pottery.'' London: British School at Rome.
*Hayes, John W. 1997. ''Handbook of Mediterranean Roman Pottery.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
*Peacock, D. P. S. 1982. ''Pottery In the Roman World: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach.'' London: Longman.
*Peña, J. Theodore. 2007. ''Roman Pottery In the Archaeological Record.'' Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press.
*Robinson, Henry Schroder. 1959. ''Pottery of the Roman Period: Chronology.'' Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
External links
Potsherd "Atlas of Roman pottery"- specialist site with much information
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History of ancient medicine
Medicinal clay
Ancient Roman pottery
Types of pottery decoration