Attributed to
P. Messenius Amphio
Roman (active 40 BCE - 5 BCE) Potter

Arretine Terra Sigillata Beaker Base Fragment

40 BCE – 5 BCE

2 15/16 x 2 7/8 x 2 7/8 in. (7.4 x 7.3 x 7.3 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• beakers - Refers to many varieties of relatively large drinking vessels without handles, cylindrical or conical in shape, with a flat base in the form of an open cup or goblet. Specifically, in archaeology refers to the tall wide-mouthed vessels produced by the Bell Beaker culture and found in certain early Bronze Age graves.
• inscriptions - Words, texts, lettering, or symbols marked on a work, including texts, legends, documentation notes, or commemoration. For standardized symbols or notations on objects that convey official information, use "marks (symbols)."
• Roman - Refers broadly to the period, styles, and culture of the state centered on the city of Rome from the period from the founding of the city ca. 700 BCE through the events leading to the founding of the republic in 509 BCE, the establishment of the empire in 27 BCE, and the final eclipse of the Empire of the West in the 5th century CE. Ancient Rome became a powerful force and supplanted Greek and Etruscan influence on the Apennine peninsula. Its rule and influence gradually encompassed a wide area in Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Minor. Its influence was wide in scope, including sculpture, painting, architecture, engineering, language, the road system, law, and many other areas of culture. Roman art and architecture is characterized by early derivations from Greek art and architecture, but it gradually developed into a style of its own, absorbing characteristics of styles from the far flung regions under its control.
• sherds - Limited to fragments of pottery or glass.
• stamping - Marking the surface of an object by applying pressure with a tool, for example, transferring an ink mark to paper or embossing soft clay; also, applying preprinted labels such as postage stamps that substitute for official stamped marks. In bookbinding, distinguished from "blocking", in which pressure is applied by a machine.
• Terra sigillata - Refers a style used in fine pottery of Italy, Gaul, and Germany, and throughout the Roman Empire from the first century BCE to the third century CE. It developed from the traditions of ancient Greek pottery in the use of calcitic clays rich in iron compounds to produce a glossy surface, but it differs from Greek pottery in employing a single-phase firing in an open kiln. It is characterized by its red color, smooth finish, and sometimes by decorations of stamped figures or patterns. The term was coined in the ninteenth century, and historically there has been disagreement regarding to which pottery it applies, stemming from various interpretations of the term as either "stamped earth," with reference to the stamped designs, or "sealed earth" with reference to an astringent, fatty, medicinal bole called "terra sigillata," from the island of Lemnos, that was thought to be the clay from which the pottery was made. Further confusion has surrounded the relationship of this term and "Samian ware" or "Samian."

This object is a member of the following portfolios: