South Gaulish Terra Sigillata Bowl Body Sherd

Domitian-Trajanic
81-117 CE

1 3/4 in. x 2 in. x 3/8 in. (4.4 cm x 5.15 cm x 1 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• Animalia - Kingdom containing multicellular organisms having cells bound by a plasma membrane and organized into tissue and specialized tissue systems that permit them to either move about in search of food or to draw food toward themselves. Unable to make their own food within themselves, as photosynthetic plants do, they rely on consuming preformed food. They possess a nervous system with sensory and motor nerves, enabling them to receive environmental stimuli and to respond with specialized movements.
• bowls - Rounded, cuplike, hollow parts of objects, such as the body of a stemmed vessel or the part of a pipe in which tobacco is burned.
• bowls - Rounded vessels that are generally wider than they are high, usually hemispherical or nearly so. A bowl may have a spreading base or foot ring and sometimes two handles or a cover. Distinguished from a cup, which is rather deep than wide.
• bulls - Adult males of cattle, oxen, bison, camel, moose, walrus, whale, seal, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, giraffe, elephant, dolphin, and other animals.
• fleuron - Decorative motif in the form of a carved or painted floral pattern, square in shape, employed in Gothic architecture. The fleuron was also used for decorative borders and to embellish frames, and as a decorative element at the center of each face of the Corinthian abacus. It is also employed on furniture. For printers' type ornaments, use "printer's flower."
• rosette - Motif in the form of a stylized rose with petals radiating from the center, or for similar circular ornaments having a design radiating from the center.
• sherds - Limited to fragments of pottery or glass.
• 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."
• vessels - Containers designed to serve as receptacles for a liquid or other substance, usually those of circular section and made of some durable material; especially containers of this nature in domestic use, employed in connection with the preparation or serving of food or drink, and usually of a size suitable for carrying by hand.