Artwork Page for Pot with Cover

Details / Information for Pot with Cover

Pot with Cover

100s CE

Rhenish (Cologne), Gallo-Roman, 2nd century

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Medium
tan ware with gray and some brown burnished slip
Measurements
Diameter: 15.6 cm (6 1/8 in.); Overall: 13.1 cm (5 3/16 in.); Lid: 2.2 x 9.8 cm (7/8 x 3 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1992.127.a
Public Domain
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Location
103 Roman
Print

Description

The work of Roman potters is very different from that of their Greek predecessors. Greek clay had allowed potters to throw thin-walled ceramics. Slips (paint) made from this clay had permitted painters to draw complicated scenes and figures with infinite care. As the Roman empire grew to include Germany and Britain, local clays found there were better for producing heavier pottery with three-dimensional decoration like the vases shown here. These jars--decorated with a human face (1992.125), animals (1992.126), a feather pattern (1992.183), a wheat pattern (1992.124), and vertical ribs (1992.127,a) were probably filled with foods or liquids and given either as gifts to an elaborate burial or as offerings to a god's shrine.
A dark gray stoneware vessel swells into a bulbous shape before tapering to a narrow base. Prominent vertical ridges ripple across its midsection like a pleated fan, framed by horizontal bands at the neck and foot. The burnished surface glimmers with a charcoal sheen and subtle earthy brown patches. A short, flared rim tops the sturdy form, holding a flush lid that underscores the vessel's rounded, heavy presence.

Pot with Cover

100s CE

Rhenish (Cologne), Gallo-Roman, 2nd century

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