Costume -- Great Britain -- History; Great Britain -- History; Great Britain -- History -- Pictorial works
ROMAN POTTERY, Etc.
(_In the Guildhall Museum, London._)
“After the Roman occupation of Britain, glass and pottery were made
here in large quantities, so that the importation of glass, which was
carried on at first, ceased to be necessary.”
_Samian ware_, which was a red glazed ware, was used ordinarily
throughout the western half of the Roman Empire. It was manufactured
first in Etruria, but afterwards its manufacture was imitated in Gaul.
Very little of the genuine Samian ware from Etruria found its way into
Britain, but the Gaulish Samian ware was imported in large quantities,
and was used throughout the province.
The finer specimens are decorated with design in low relief, of a
pictorial character, and the ware was of very good quality, for, 1,500
years after its manufacture, it preserves its colours and its lustre
perfectly.
_Castor ware_, a native product, was made at Castor (Durobrivae),
near the River Nen, and includes small vases of rusty copper or slate
colour, with white ornament in low relief. “Castor ware is not Roman in
character, but rather a local survival of late Celtic art.”
[Illustration: PLATE 5.
(Fig. 1): A Roman tablet of wood. This was covered with a thin
coating of wax, upon which the writing was done with a stylus
of metal or bone. When the inscription was no longer needed, a
hot iron was held over the surface, and a new surface formed
on the wax. (Fig. 2): A Roman stylus of iron. (Fig. 3): A
Roman amphora. (Fig. 4): An ornamented vase of Cologne ware.
(Fig. 5): A bowl of Cologne ware. (Fig. 6): An ewer or water
bottle, with indented mouth. (Fig. 7): A deep bowl of Roman
pottery. (Fig. 8): A cinerary urn of grey ware for containing
the ashes of the dead. (Fig. 9): A decorated urn of Cologne
ware. (Fig. 10): A vase of Castor ware, red, with black glazed
neck ornaments, decorated with pinkish-white slip. (Fig. 11):
A Roman glass hemispherical bowl. (Fig. 12): A drinking cup of
thick Samian ware, 3¾ in. high.]
ROMAN ANTIQUITIES FOUND IN LONDON.
(_Guildhall Museum._)
The Roman influence in Britain was directed to the civilizing of
the inhabitants. It gave the people better conditions of life; it
guaranteed protection against the tyrannies of petty chieftains; and
it gave to them the resources of Roman civilisation. The Roman remains
that are to be found in our museums, unearthed after centuries of
oblivion, show how definite was the influence of the Romans in the
comforts and necessities of daily life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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