ii4 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. VII. 



BRAZIERS 



The brazier, or open pan for burning charcoal, was the usual — in 

 Pompeii almost the only — means of furnishing artificial heat to the 

 living-rooms of Roman houses. Even for bathing establishments 

 there was no more efficient system until the invention, early in the 

 first century B. C, of the suspensura or hollow floor for the circulation 

 of hot air. 



88. (24287) Large Rectangular Brazier 



At the front corners the claw-footed legs are modeled above in the form of 

 busts of sphinxes emerging from clusters of leaves, while the legs at the back are 

 rectangular, but also claw- footed. The frame is battlemented, with open-work 

 palmettes at the corners. The heifer on the front of the frame stands for 

 Vaccula, the donor's cognomen. The fire-bed is missing. 



Naples 73005. From the so-called Stabian Baths at Pompeii. The inscription (C. /. L. X, 

 8071, 48) is to be read: M. Nigidius Vaccula p(ecunia) s(ua) ; " Marcus Nigidius Vaccula (presented 

 this brazier) from his private means." The closely similar brazier presented by the same Vaccula 

 to the Baths near the Forum of Pompeii is figured in Mus. Borb. II, liv. 



89. (24286) Rectangular Brazier 



The feet are straight and plain. At .each end of the frame is a swinging 

 handle, its ends modeled as heads of aquatic birds. The ornamental openings 

 in the rim are of battlement form. The fire-bed is missing. 



Naples 72984. 



90. (24292) Rectangular Brazier 



The claw feet rest on round, molded bases. On one long side of the frame is 

 a pattern of copper and silver inlay, — two scrolls of conventionalized vegetable 

 stems and flowers springing from a central clump of acanthus leaves. On the 

 other long side is a design, also of copper and silver inlay, consisting of a repeated 

 pattern of scrolls, palmettes and rosettes. On each of the short sides are two 

 ivy sprays of copper inlay. At the corners are upstanding palmettes. The 

 fire-bed is missing. 



Naples 72989. Mus. Borb. V, xxvn, 2. 



91. (24293) Rectangular Brazier 



The claw feet, resting on round, molded bases, take above the form of lions' 

 heads, attached by recurved wings to the frame. The frame has a leaf-and- 

 dart pattern below and egg and bead patterns above. On each of the long sides 

 are three heads, a maenad ( ?) between two satyrs. On each of the ends are 

 two lions' heads. The rim of the frame is battlemented. The fire-bed is 

 missing. 



Naples 72991. Mus. Borb. VI, xlv, 2, 3. 



92. (24263) Rectangular Brazier 



The four claw feet rest on round, molded bases. At each end of the frame 

 is a swinging handle. On each of the two longer sides~~are two comic masks and 

 between them a relief of a lion killing a bull. The rim is battlemented. The 

 fire-bed is of cement in an iron pan. 



Naples 73014. Mus. Borb. II, xlvi, 2. 



