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Red-brown terracotta fragments joined to form a partial cup decorated with plants, flowers, and dots

This red-brown terracotta cup is partially reformed from fragments. The cup is rounded with straight sides that slightly widen outward, and there is no foot. The front rim is the most complete, and only a small portion of the back rim is intact. Decorating the rim, there are two horizontal lines and beneath those a row of raised dots. Below this there are alternating images of a single-stemmed flower and a plant. The stems grow upward from the bottom of the cup, rising vertically and straight with symmetrical leaves, toward the flower heads that are under the row of dots.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1977.216.3073
Title
Terra Sigillata Cup with Bud and Flower Pattern
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
first century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Roman Imperial period, Early
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/289826

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Mold-made
Dimensions
H. 7.5 × W. 4 cm (2 15/16 × 1 9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Henry W. Haynes, Boston, MA (by 1912) bequest; to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, 1912, transfer; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1977.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, Bequest of Henry W. Haynes, 1912
Accession Year
1977
Object Number
1977.216.3073
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Fragmentary terra sigillata cup or broad beaker recomposed from several fragments. In shape the vessel has deep walls, a curved body, and no foot. The walls are decorated with alternating buds and flowers. A circle of flowers surrounds the foot. In this type of vessel the decoration was typically separated from the rim by a groove, in this case accented by a row of beads, above which would have been a plain rim (1).


Classification:
For similar types, Kenrick, in Elisabeth Ettinger, et. al. Conspectus Formarum Terrae Sigillatae Italico Modo Confectae (Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GMBH, 1990), Form R 11.1.1.

1. Toronto, J.W. Hayes, Roman Pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum. A Catalogue. Toronto, 1976. p. 72 fig. 1, 56; a cup made by M. Perrenius Tigranus; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, inv. 97.379, a restored cup with similar decorative motifs.
Commentary
Terra sigillata ("stamped earth") pottery was mold-made, mass-produced pottery that was distributed throughout the Roman Empire. This type of pottery was made at several production sites throughout Italy in the first century BCE. It is often decorated with figural or other decorative motifs.

Subjects and Contexts

  • Roman Domestic Art

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu