Name/Title
Pottery / bowl / fragmentEntry/Object ID
X.FRA 1301Description
Fragment of a bowl of Samian ware, upper moulding is a degraded form of egg and tassel, the decoration is stamps, rosettes and demi-medallions, from the Roman site at Newstead (Trimontium).Use
Pottery was used for a variety of purposes such as but not limited to: to store food and liquids, cook with, eat/drink from, decoration, and to hold cosmetics.Context
Samian ware (or 'terra sigillata') pottery was imported in to Romano-Britain from Gaul, generally. It was produced on an industrial scale and exported across the Roman empire, where it was favoured for its use as a fine tableware.
Samian ware comes in a range of glossy red finishes (or sometimes black). They could be plain, but were often decorated with typical Graeco-Roman patterns and figures, such as egg-and-darts, flora or fauna, or scenes from myth.
The Trimontium site has a large collection of Samian ware, but also shows evidence of the fort making its own pottery (known as coarse-ware).Collection
National Museums Scotland, James CurleCategory
Samian ware, Pottery
Food Preparation & Storage
Made/Created
Time Period
1st - 2nd Century ADLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
PotteryNomenclature Secondary Object Term
SherdNomenclature Primary Object Term
FactoryNomenclature Primary Object Term
FragmentNomenclature Sub-Class
Industrial StructuresNomenclature Class
StructuresNomenclature Category
Category 01: Built Environment ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 10: Unclassifiable ObjectsGetty AAT
Concept
bowls (vessels), Samian ware, sherdsOther Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
Previous Accession NumberOther Number
V.15.63Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
James CurleNotes
ExcavatorRelated Places
Place
Location
Trimontium Roman Fort Site, NewsteadCountry
Scotland* Untyped Place
United KingdomNotes
Excavation siteProvenance
Provenance Detail
1905 - 1911 ExcavationsAcquisition Method
FoundNotes
James CurleResearch Notes
Research Type
ReferencePerson
James CurleNotes
Curle, James, and Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. A Roman Frontier Post and Its People : The Fort of Newstead in the Parish of Melrose (Page 217, Fig. 12)
'Fragment of a bowl (Dragendorff 37). The upper moulding is a degraded form of the
common egg and tassel. The decoration is reduced to meaningless stamps, rosettes, and
demi-medallions, most of which are to he found in Ludowici, Stempel-Bilder aus meinen
Ausgrabungen in Rheinzabern, page 211, Figs. O. 26, 27, 62. See also Knorr, Terrasigillata
Gefässe von Cannstatt und Kongen-Grinario, Taf. xxxvii. 2 and 3, where somewhat similar
decoration is to be seen on a bowl bearing the stamp of the Rheinzabern potter Reginus, to
whom our piece must be attributed.'Research Type
ReferenceNotes
For further information on Samian Ware