164 'Roman Tottery — The Unchurch Ware. 



from which. I take much, of the information contained in the 

 present article. 



The Roman ware made in the Upchurch potteries presents 

 distinctive peculiarities which cannot be mistaken, and it must 

 have been in great repute, certainly the next after the foreign 

 Samian and the native Durobrivian wares, in this province of 

 the empire. Like the Durobrivian, too, it has been found, I 

 believe, on Roman sites in France and Germany, so that it was 

 probably exported. As Battely has described it, the greater 

 proportion of this ware is of a " blackish colour," or rather of 

 a bluish or greyish black, which was produced, no doubt, by 

 the process of the smother-kiln, already described in our paper 

 on the Durobrivian pottery. Some of the Upchurch pottery 

 presents a colour approaching to dark drab. Examples of 

 both are given in our plate. The forms, as well as the sizes, 

 vary greatly, but they all present those delicate forms of the 

 curve which we recognize at once as coming from the hands of 

 the Roman artist. The texture of the pottery itself is fine, 

 and it is very thin. The ornamentation also is varied, but not 

 very elaborate, or very refined. One of the most elegant 

 patterns is represented in the first figure in our plate. It con- 

 sists of a band of half-circles, made with compasses, from each 

 of which a band of parallel fines descends vertically. Another 

 example of this class of ornament is given in one of the 

 groups (2) in our accompanying woodcut. A pattern different 

 from this, but still presenting some of the same characteristics ; 

 is shown in the lower figure to the left on our plate. This, 

 again, both in form and in the character of its ornament, 

 though it is more simple, may be compared with No. 4 in the 

 cut. The little vessel (3) in the front of the cut has had two 

 handles, but one is lost : it is supposed to be an incense pot. 



The instruments used in the ornamentation of this pottery 

 appear to have been of a very rude description, and were, as 

 it seems, chiefly mere sticks, some sharpened to a point, and 

 others with a transverse section cut into notches. The former 

 were used in tracing the lines already described ; the latter 

 had the section formed into a square, or rhomboid, the surface 

 of which was cut into parallel lines crossing each other, so as 

 to form a dotted figure, and this was stamped on the surface 

 of the pottery in various combinations and arrangements. An 

 example of this description of ornament is given in the upper 

 vessel to the right in our plate. Sometimes these dots are 

 arranged so as to form bands, as in the example in the back 

 of the group in the woodcut (5). The middle figure in our 

 plate represents another ornament, which is more difficult to 

 describe, but which is not uncommon. The large urn in the 

 middle of our group in the woodcut (1) furnishes an example 



