230 



Roman Samian Ware. 



from one school of potters, and we should hardly look for these 

 in our island. This identity is manifested not only in the 

 general character of the pottery, and in its ornaments and 

 designs, but in the names of the potters. From whatever 

 country this numerous class of pottery came, the manufactories 

 must have been very extensive, and we could hardly fail to find 

 some traces of them. Now, among the rather numerous 

 remains of potteries of the Roman period found in Britain, no 

 trace of the manufacture of Samian ware has ever yet been 

 met with. On the other hand, potteries of the Roman Samian 

 ware have been found in various localities in Gaul, with the 

 moulds in which the embossed ornamentation was cast, and 

 the stamps with which it was impressed. Among the places 

 at which these potteries have been met with, I may mention 

 Lezoux, near Thiers, in Auvergne ; Saverne, a few miles to the 

 north-west of Strasburg ; the valley of the Brusche, depart- 

 ment of the Bas Rhin ; Luxembourg ; and Rheinzabern, 

 between Spire and Lauterbourg. From all these circum- 

 stances we are justified in the conclusion that the potteries 

 which produced our Samian ware were situated in Gaul, chiefly 

 in the north, in the countries bordering on or approaching to 

 the Rhine, and the export of this ware to Britain perhaps 

 came down that river. 



The discoveries made on these various sites throw light on 

 the processes employed in the manufacture of this pottery. A 

 mould appears to have been first formed of clay, on the wheel, 

 with a smoothed surface internally. On this interior surface 

 the ornaments and figures were stamped. The clay of which 

 the vessel was to be made, was pressed into the mould, after 

 which it appears to have been placed on the wheel, and tho 



Fig. 2. Potters' Marks. 



internal surface of the vessel formed and smoothed. Tlio 

 potter's name was then stamped in the centre, across the 

 bottom, and the whole was glazed and placed in the kilns. 

 I saw, some years ago, in the cabinet of the late Comte do 

 Portales, in Paris, one of these moulds, found, if I remember 

 right, at Luxembourg, in which this process was fully exem- 

 plified. 



