i88 • Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. VII. 



depth. In the inside the center is occupied by a broad low boss sur- 

 rounded by a molding, which has the effect of a collar. The wide 

 lip is flat on the bottom, and molded on top, the surface being broken 

 into two parts, a broad wave inside and a narrow plain roll on the outer 

 edge. The bowl is ornamented with fine raised encircling lines, two 

 between boss and collar and two on the upper side of the lip, and 

 with fine grooves, one on either side of the lower outer corner of the 

 lip. There probably are also on the inner edge of the lip two fine 

 raised lines, and there are possible traces of one or two raised bands 

 on the inside of the bowl. There are also doubtful traces of a leaf- 

 pattern on the upper inner edge of the lip. 



The handle, which has four ribs on each side and a molded collar 

 next to the lip, is attached to the under side of the bowl by means of 

 a thin extension cut so as to form two portions, which converge toward 

 each other. This attachment-piece is held to the bowl by means of 

 four rivets, and is decorated on either side with a stamped pattern 

 of scrolls and arabesques. 1 The outer end of the handle has the form 

 of a ram's head. The treatment is decorative and conventional, as 

 may be seen in the elongated shape and pointed ears, but the modelling 

 of the bony structure of the horn and of the end of the nose is more 

 careful than might have been expected on a common household utensil. 



A casserole, which in form and decoration is substantially identical, 

 was found in another villa near Boscoreale, and is now in Berlin. 2 

 Another is in the museum at Cairo. 3 



The exact use for which these objects were intended is not certain. 

 It has been suggested by Pernice 4 that they were employed for such 

 kinds of food as were served in the dish in which they were cooked. 5 

 However, as they were probably held in the hand of the person eating 

 from them, they can scarcely have been used for any cooking that 

 would have heated the handle, and it would seem that they are to 

 be regarded chiefly as hand-plates. 



Length, m. 0.135 (handle) +0.234 (diameter of bowl) =0.369 ( = 14.52 in.). 

 Height, m. 0.056 ( = 2.2 in.). Diameter of base-ring, m. 0.113. Diameter of boss, 

 m. 0.054. Length of handle on under side, m. 0.185 ( = 7- 2 8 in.). 



1 For a similar pattern cf. Roux, op. cit. Vol. vii, plate 69. 



2 Pernice, op. cit. p. 191, fig. 20. 



3 Published in Jahrbuch, XVIII (1903). Anz. pp. 14s ff.,p. 148, fig. 3. by F. von Bissing, who remarks 

 that that museum possesses no pieces which on external evidence must be dated in Hellenistic times. 



* Op. cit. pp. 191 f . 



6 The Naples casserole, No. 73455. can not have been used for liquid food. See Professor Tar- 

 bell's Catalogue of Bronzes, etc., in Field Museum, p. 134, No. ail. This counts also against Less- 

 ing's theory (Jahrb. XIII (1898), Anz. p. 35) that these objects were used to contain food or sauce which 

 was poured by the servants onto the plates of the guests. 



