History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman....

Roman pottery mentioned by ancient writers—“Samian” ware—Centres of fabric—The pottery of Arretium—Characteristics—Potters’ stamps—Shapes of Arretine vases—Sources of inspiration for decoration—“Italian Megarian bowls”—Subjects—Distribution of Arretine wares.

In the present chapter we propose to discuss the origin and character of the finer Roman pottery, or red glazed ware with designs in relief, which is usually known to modern writers under the convenient designation of terra sigillata, a phrase which has already been explained (p. 434). Not only in clay and glaze but in decoration these wares are characteristically Roman; but the question as to the actual centre or centres of their manufacture still admits of some discussion.

Relying principally upon the testimony of Pliny, Martial, and other ancient writers, archaeologists have been accustomed to classify the red ware with reliefs, on a rough system of distinction according to artistic merit, as Arretine, Samian, and “false Samian.” The latter term “Samian” has indeed acquired such popularity that it has passed into the language as a conventional term of almost every-day use; but to the scientific investigator it has long been apparent that in point of accuracy it almost stands on a level with that of “Etruscan vase.” That of “false Samian” has usually been applied to a certain class of provincial wares, technically inferior to the “Samian.” But though both terms may still retain currency in popular language for the sake of convenience, it must not be supposed that they are impressed with the hall-mark of scientific terminology.

Before however we attempt to distinguish the different fabrics on the basis of recent researches, it may be as well to investigate the statements of the classical writers and weigh the evidence which they afford on the various kinds of pottery in use in Italy under the Roman Empire.

The most valuable information is found in the pages of Pliny, supplemented by Isidorus of Seville, who, writing in the seventh century, probably gives merely second-hand information. The former[3331] says: “The majority of mankind use earthenware vessels. Samian ware is commended even at the present day for dinner services; this reputation is also kept up by Arretium in Italy, and for drinking-cups by Surrentum, Hasta, Pollentia, Saguntum in Spain, and Pergamum in Asia. Tralles is also a centre for pottery, and Mutina in Italy ... and exportation from the celebrated potteries goes on all over the world.” Isidorus, who largely quotes from Pliny, gives the tradition that Samos was the seat of the original invention of pottery, “whence too came Samian vases.”[3332] He goes on to say that “Arretine vases are so called from Arretium, a town in Italy where they are made, for they are red.” But in regard to “Samian ware” he admits that there is another explanation of the term, namely that it is a corruption of Samnia. Herein he is possibly not far from the truth, for we have already seen that the adjacent region of Campania was in the last few centuries of the Republic famous as a centre for relief-wares, and it is possible that the manufacture of such pottery was carried on in the district, as for instance at Puteoli, long afterwards. We also know that Allifae in Samnium was a seat of this industry,[3333] and that a special class of pottery was made at Ocriculum and at Mevania in Umbria about 200 B.C. (see below, p. 490).

On the other hand there is no doubt that Samos had a reputation for its pottery for many centuries, as is implied by the tradition which Isidorus quotes and by the words of Pliny: “even at the present day it is commended.” In a previous chapter it has been suggested that the so-called Megarian bowls, which undoubtedly are a prototype of the Roman wares, represent the Samian pottery of the Hellenistic period; but whether this is so or not, the most probable conclusion is that the term “Samian” connotes in the first instance a Greek, not a Roman, fabric; that this Greek ware was imported into Italy; and that it became so popular that the term really came into use for native products, just as now-a-days we are able to speak of “China” which has travelled no further than from Worcester, Sèvres, or Dresden. It may thus have become a generic name for table-ware. Plautus mentions Samian ware more than once (see above, p. 456), usually with reference to its brittleness, as in the Menaechmi,[3334] where Menaechmus says, “Knock gently!” to which the parasite Peniculus replies: “I suppose you are afraid the doors are Samian.” Again in the Bacchides,[3335] with a jesting allusion to Samos as the home of one of the two heroines: “Take care, please, that no one handles her carelessly; you know how easily a Samian vase gets broken.” In another passage he speaks of a Samiolum poterium.[3336] And Tertullian, speaking of Numa’s times, says that only Samian vases were as yet in use.[3337]

Pliny also mentions Pergamum and Tralles as centres of fabrics, and speaks of the firmitas or toughness of that of Kos, but of these we know nothing further. It has been pointed out by Dragendorff that there was some manufacture of terra sigillata in Asia Minor under the Empire,[3338] probably an imitation of the Italian ware, as the examples known present the same characteristics as the provincial wares of Central Europe, and the forms are also those of the Arretine vases. The same writer has shown that there were also manufactures of terra sigillata in Greece itself, in Egypt, and in Southern Russia, which were of similar character.

To return to Italy and its local fabrics. It is not to be supposed that there was any one principal centre, for different towns excelled in their respective wares, and these were imported from one to the other, and especially into Rome. This city was of course originally supplied with earthenware by the Etruscans, whose mantle fell on the town of Arretium, but it cannot be doubted that the manufacture of pottery must have been carried on to some extent in Rome itself after the absorption of the Etruscan people. We read that even in Numa’s time there was a Guild of Potters (see p. 372), but it never appears to have excelled in any of the finer wares, and is ignored by Pliny, though we have evidence from other sources. Thus Martial speaks of cadi Vaticani,[3339] and Juvenal of fragile dishes from the Vatican hill.[3340] Cato says dolia are best bought in Rome, tiles at Venafrum.[3341] And the evidence of a pottery in the third and second centuries B.C. on the Esquiline which is given by the find of lamps described in Chapter XX. is supported by Festus.[3342]

Pliny, as we have seen, mentions Arretium, Hasta and Pollentia, Mutina and Surrentum with commendation; he also couples the pottery of Hadria with that of Kos for firmitas.[3343] He further implies that Arretium kept up the old pre-eminence of the Samian ware, and this is borne out, not only by what we gather from Martial and other writers, but still more by modern discoveries, of which we shall shortly speak in detail. Of the other potteries less is known, but remains have been found at Hasta and Pollentia (Asti and Pollenza in Piedmont)[3344] and the figlinae of Velleia in the same region were also well known in antiquity.[3345] At Mutina (Modena) remains of a pottery were found (see Vol. I. p. 71), together with vases of Arretine type, and the potter Fortis, whose name so often occurs on lamps (p. 426), appears to have had his workshop here.[3346] His stamps are also found on tiles and on pottery of all kinds, even Arretine. Here, too, were found vases of black ware, of “Graeco-Campanian” style, sometimes with stamps impressed from gems, and unglazed red plates stamped with small palmettes like the Greek black-glazed wares (Vol. I. p. 212). Livy mentions that in 176 B.C. a great destruction took place here of “all kinds of vases, made more for use than for ornament.”[3347] In their general results the pottery-finds are instructive as showing the transition from black to red wares, which may also be observed in the vases of Popilius and the early Arretine fabrics (see below).[3348]

Campania in general seems to have maintained the traditions of the Calene and Etrusco-Campanian fabrics of the third century (Chapter XI.), and there is evidence of manufacture and export in the first century B.C. Horace’s table was supplied with Campana supellex.[3349] Surrentum ware is mentioned by Martial[3350] as well as Pliny, and, as indicated in the preceding chapter (p. 462), supplied amphorae of local wine to Pompeii.[3351] The pottery of Cumae, which place was at an earlier date an important centre for painted vases (Vol. I. p. 80), is mentioned by Martial[3352] It would also seem to have supplied clay for the vases made at the neighbouring Puteoli, which had no local clay suitable for the purpose, and is not mentioned by ancient writers. The latter has however yielded large numbers of vases of a type closely resembling the Arretine, and a pottery was discovered in 1874, with moulds.[3353] Some of the vases have Arretine stamps,[3354] which imply importations during the first century B.C., but names of local potters are also known, chief of whom is Numerius Naevius Hilarus, who employed eleven slaves. Q. Pomponius Serenus and L. Valerius Titus are also found here and elsewhere in Southern Italy and at Nismes.[3355] Some fragments of this Puteoli ware from various sources are in the British Museum.[3356]

Horace speaks of pottery from Allifae in Samnium,[3357] and Pliny mentions the popularity of that made at Rhegium and Cumac[3358]; this exhausts the list of sites known to us from ancient writers. In the provinces the only place which had any fame was Saguntum, alluded to by Pliny and more than once by Martial, who speaks of cups (pocula and cymbia) fashioned from Saguntine clay[3359]; also of a synthesis septenaria or nest of seven cups, “polished by the potter’s coarse tool, of clay turned on the Spanish wheel.”[3360] But modern researches on the site have not thrown any light on the character of the local fabric (p. 540)[3361]; it is only at Tarragona that terra sigillata has been found.

The pottery of Arretium is more than once referred to by Martial, who notes that it compared unfavourably with the splendour of crystal vessels, but at the same time begs his hearer not to regard it altogether with contempt, for Porsena was well served with his Tuscan earthenware[3362]:

Other allusions are less direct.[3364] Coming down to more modern times, we actually find mention of the pottery in a manuscript written by Sig. Ristori of Arezzo in 1282, and by C. Villani in his History of the World, written in the fourteenth century. Subsequently Alessi, who lived in the time of Leo X., described the discovery of red ware about a mile from the city, and Vasari tells us that in 1484 his grandfather found in the neighbourhood three vaults of an ancient furnace. Further allusions are found in the writings of Gori (1734) and Rossi (1796); and in 1841 Fabroni published a history of Arretine ware,[3365] in which the above facts are recorded. He tells us that in 1779 potteries were unearthed at Cincelli or Centum Cellae, which contained, besides various implements, part of a potter’s wheel, resembling those in vogue at the present day. It was composed of two circular slabs placed round one pivot at an interval from one another, their diameter not being the same. The wheel actually found was of terracotta, about 11 inches in diameter by 3 inches in thickness, with a groove round the edge. It was bound with a leaden tyre, held in place by six cylinders of the same metal, and appears to have been the upper of the two slabs, the “table” on which the clay was placed.[3366]

The Arretine ware must be regarded as the Roman pottery par excellence. The term was used anciently in an extended sense for all vases of a certain technique without regard to the place of manufacture, as a piece of evidence from Spain tends to show. Pottery has been found at Tarragona with the inscription, A TITII FIGVL ARRE, A. Titii figul(i) Arre(tini),[3367] which has generally been taken to mean a maker of Arretine ware living on the spot, just as now-a-days Wilton or Brussels carpets may be made at Kidderminster.

The general characteristics of the Arretine ware are: (1) the fine local red clay, carefully worked up and baked very hard to a rich coral-colour, or like sealing-wax; (2) the fine red glaze, composed chiefly of silica, iron oxide, and an alkaline substance, which, as we have seen (p. 437), was perhaps borax; (3) the great variety of forms employed, which show in a marked degree the influence of metal-work; (4) the stamps with potter’s names, which are almost invariably found. The duration of this pottery seems to have been from about 150 B.C. to the end of the first century of the Empire, at which time pottery in Italy had reached a very degenerate stage, and the height of its success and popularity was during the first century B.C. Analyses of the vases show that practically the same results as to their composition are obtained from different periods.

During the last century these vases have been found in large numbers at Arezzo, and there is now a considerable quantity of them collected in the public museum of that city, as well as in private collections and the museums of other countries. The official record of Italian excavations contains an account of finds made in 1883, 1884, 1890, 1894, and 1896 on various sites in the city and immediate neighbourhood,[3368] and gives the locality of the different potteries,[3369] as well as the names of their owners. The first potter’s name recorded was that of Calidius Strigo by Alessi; it was found in 1492 in the presence of Giovanni de’ Medici, afterwards Leo X. Others were given by Gori, and fuller lists (up to date) by Fabroni in 1841, Gamurrini in 1859, and Marini in 1884.[3370] At the present day the most complete information on this head may be found in the recently published volume of the Corpus of Latin inscriptions dealing with Etruria,[3371] in which the results of the most recent excavations are incorporated. A large number have also been found at Rome, the names being identical with those found at Arezzo, and the ware consequently imported.[3372] It must be distinguished from the inferior relief wares either of local fabric (see p. 492) or imported from Gaul, Northern Italy, and elsewhere. Names of Arretine potters are also found in large numbers at Modena, Rimini, and other places in Northern Italy, in France, Spain, and elsewhere.

The stamps range in date from the second century B.C. down to the Christian era, but not beyond the first century of the Empire. The oldest of all, it is interesting to note, are found on black-glazed wares similar in character to those from the Esquiline.[3373] The red-glazed ware probably came in about 100 B.C., and the two methods appear to have been for a time contemporaneous. The initials Q A · F and C · V which occur on early red Arretine wares[3374] are also found on the Esquiline lamps. Next comes the red ware with quadrangular stamps repeated four or five times on the bottom, followed by single quadrangular stamps and those of varying form, especially some in the shape of a foot, which are not found in the best period at Arretium, and seem to belong only to the time of the Empire. This form of stamp is very common on lamps and plain pottery, and there are many examples of bronze stamps in this shape extant.[3375] Those vases which have stamps on the exterior in the midst of the design represent the middle or Augustan period. The older stamps are more deeply impressed in the surface of the vase than the later. On the whole, the palaeographical evidence of the stamps is very slight, and we can only roughly date them between 100 B.C. and 100 A.D.[3376] Dragendorff has, however, noted that the slaves’ names are mostly Greek, a detail which helps to establish a terminus post quem, placing them later than 146 B.C.

The Calidius Strigo of whom we have already spoken was a potter of some importance, employing twenty slaves, of whom the names of Protus and Synistor occur most frequently. But he only seems to have made plain table wares without reliefs, examples of which are found in Rome and elsewhere. A potter named Domitius had a workshop on the same spot, but only employed a few slaves. A more important name is that of Publius Cornelius, first found by Ferdinando Rossi in the eighteenth century at Cincelli, together with remains of his workshop; many additional examples were found in 1883 and 1892. He employed no less than forty slaves, of whom the best known are Antioc(h)us, Faustus, Heraclides, Primus, and Rodo. One vase by the last-named has medallions with the head of Augustus and the inscription, AVGVSTVS, which gives the date of the fabric.[3377] Previous to the discovery of this in 1893 Gamurrini had supposed that Cornelius was one of the colonists placed at Arezzo by Sulla. Many of his vases are found at Rome, and also in Spain and Southern Italy. The vases with CORNELI in a foot-shaped stamp are probably not his. He appears to have acquired the business of two other potters—C. Tellius and C. Cispius.

Among all the potters’ stamps few are commoner than that of M. Perennius, and his wares certainly take the highest rank for their artistic merit. All his relief designs are copied from the best Greek models, as will be seen later. Few of his vases seem to have been exported to Rome, but they are found in Spain and Southern Gaul. The form of the name on the stamps varies greatly,[3378] the commonest being M. PERENNI; M. PEREN., M. PERE., and M. PER. are also found, and even M. PE. with the letters joined in a monogram. He employed seventeen slaves, of whom the best known is Tigranes. His name appears as TIGRAN, TIGRA, or TIGR, and always in conjunction with that of Perennius. These two are found on a vase with Achilles and Diomede fighting against Hector,[3379] and on three Arretine moulds in the British Museum, the subjects of which are a dance of Maenads, masks of Maenads and Satyrs, and a banquet scene (Plate LXVI. figs. 4, 6). The name of Tigranes appears alone on a fine vase in the Louvre with the apotheosis of Herakles.[3380] Another slave, Cerdo, made a vase with the nine Muses, their names being inscribed over them in Greek.[3381] A third slave who produced vases of more than average merit was Bargates, whose name is found on a fine vase in the Boston Museum (Fig. 218),[3382] the subject of which is the fall of Phaëthon, who lies shattered in pieces on the ground, with Tethys coming to his rescue. Zeus with his thunderbolt and Artemis with her bow have brought about his downfall.