METAL OBJECTS. 



BRONZE TABLE. 24407. [Plate CXXXL] 



This table, the finest piece of the collection, was found in Villa I, in 

 the room of the wine-presses 1 (P), along with other articles which 

 indicated that that room had been converted into a sort of living apart- 

 ment, with the idea that it might be a safe refuge until the outbreak of 

 the mountain had subsided, a hope which was proved fallacious by the 

 presence of the skeletons 2 of two 3 men and a woman. The table had 

 been placed over the wooden cover 4 of the shaft which gave access to the 

 standard of the press-beam. This cover having become decomposed, 

 the table had been bent toward the opening and broken. Its present 

 good condition is due to modern repairs executed before it entered the 

 Museum. On the table were found a patera and two pitchers of bronze. 5 



There is the usual green and blue oxidation. On top are some 

 patches of brown, which seem to be iron rust due to contact with some 

 piece of that metal. 



The table was made of five pieces, that is, the top, three legs and the 

 brace, all of which are cast. The component parts were doubtless 

 soldered together, but the joinings, which now appear, are mostly, if 

 not all, modern. There seem to be no traces of rivets. 



The top is a round sheet of metal, plain on its upper surface, but 

 with the edges turned down so as to give the appearance of great thick- 

 ness, and molded in the form of the cyma recta. The cyma is decorated 

 with a conventionalized leaf -pattern {Stab ornament) carried out plas- 

 tically as well as by the usual grooves. 



The hollow legs are shorter than those of modern tables, because it 

 was intended to stand beside a couch in accordance with the ancient 

 custom of reclining at meals. They are immovable, unlike those of 

 many tables of that time which could be spread out and folded up. In 

 form they represent the hind legs of lions, except that the backs are 

 plain above the brace. Muscles and sinews are carefully indicated, 

 together with a system of veins which run about the toes and up the 

 foot, and appear also at the back of the leg. 



1 Pasqui, op. cil. col. 478. 



2 Ibid. coll. 473 f. 



• Besides the skeleton found in the pit with the Treasure. 



* Ibid. col. 478. 



» Ibid. 



182 



