THE INTELLECTUAL OBSERVER. 



NOVEMBER, 1864 



ROMAN SAMIAN WARE. 



BY THOMAS WRIGHT, F.S.A. 

 (With a Coloured Plate) 



Wherever we dig upon Roman sites, whether in Britain, in 

 Gaul, or in Germany, and especially on the sites of towns or 

 large villas, we continually find specimens of a red ware, 

 covered with a glaze which gives it the outward appearance of 

 fine red sealing-wax, or of coral. Internally it is of a lighter 

 red than the exterior glaze ; and it is slightly porous, and 

 sonorous when struck. It consists chiefly of bowls, cups, and 

 paterae or dishes, presenting a great diversity of form and 

 design, but always elegant. It is sometimes quite plain, but 

 more usually covered with ornament in relief, and often with 

 figures of men and animals. Four examples of this pottery 

 are given in our plate, and will furnish a sufficiently exact 

 notion of its colour and other peculiarities. These peculiarities 

 have given rise to two rather important questions, relating to 

 Its name and to the locality in which it was made, which have 

 been the subject of some dispute among antiquaries. 



It has generally, by a sort of involuntary consent, been 

 termed Samian ware, though some have doubted the cor- 

 rectness of this name as applied to this pottery. Perhaps, 

 however, the evidence in favour of this name, which is often 

 mentioned by the classical writers, is greater than that against 

 it. Pliny (Nat. Hist., lib. xxxv. c. 46) informs us that the 

 Samian ware was the favourite pottery for the service of the 

 table among the Romans, which quite agrees with the forms 

 of the red ware of which I am speaking. The Samian pottery 

 of the Romans was, like it, red. The Samian ware was well 

 known in Rome at so early a period, that Plautus uses the 

 word as a symbol for brittleness, and we learn from Pliny that 

 it was more highly valued than most other sorts of pottery. 

 Plautus, in his comedy of the Bacchides (actus ii. sc. 2), 

 VOL. vi. — NO. IV. o. 



