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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1977.216.2450
Title
Fragment of an Arretine Mold Signed: Rasini Memmi.
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Work Type
mold
Date
1st century BCE-1st century CE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World
Period
Roman Republican period, Late, to Early Imperial
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/290694

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Technique
Stamped
Dimensions
7.6 x 8.9 x 0.7 cm (3 x 3 1/2 x 1/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Henry W. Haynes, 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
1977.216.2450
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Fragment of a terracotta mold for making terra sigillata/Arretine pottery. The decoration consists of a series of repeating triangles and motifs from nature including rosettes, herons, and palmettes. Along the upper rim of the mold is the two-part stamp: RASINI MEMMI.
Commentary
Molds such as this were used in pottery workshops to make tableware with decoration (terra sigillata). The pattern was first stamped on the interior of the mold and appeared in relief on the final vessel.

Vessels were often stamped with a signature. The signature on this mold most likely refers to the potter Rasinius and his partner Memmius, or their workshop (1). The Rasinius workshop was active from the 1st century BCE-mid first century CE. This decorative style was common on Arretine pottery of the first century BCE with parallels in the ouevre of Rasinius (2).

Notes:
1. A. Stenico, La ceramica arretina, I: Museo archeologico di Arezzo. Rasinius, I (Varese and Milan 1966) p. 77; P. Kenrick, Corpus Vasorum Arretinorum, 2nd edition (Bonn 2000), 1136.1; 1622.2.

2. Fragment from a mold, Arezzo, Archaeological Museum, inv. 9022: M.T. Marabini Moevs, "The Italian Sigillata," Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Supplementary Volumes, vol. 3 Cosa: The Italian Sigillata (2006): p.105 fig. 32, in A. Stenico, La ceramica arretina, I: Museo archeologico di Arezzo. Rasinius, I, n. 192, pl. 36.

Publication History

  • George H. Chase and Mary Zelia Pease, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, U.S.A.: volume 8, Fogg Museum and Gallatin Collections, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1942), p. 48, pl. XXX.1

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