Londinium, Architecture and the CraftsLethaby, W. R. (William Richard)
History
Londinium, Architecture and the Crafts
Lethaby, W. R. (William Richard)
England -- Antiquities, Roman; London (England) -- Antiquities, Roman; Romans -- England -- London
Sporting subjects, such as are mentioned by Conyers, are plentifully
represented in our museums. In Fairholt’s sketch-book I find a drawing
of a pot found in Cateaton Street (Fig. 137). There is also a sketch of
a fragment of a similar urn found at Chesterford (Fig. 138). Compare the
sculpture, Fig. 62. The piece engraved in Wright’s book as an example of
a British hunting dog was also from a sketch by Fairholt of a London
fragment. He also drew a piece found in Bishopsgate Street, which shows
the heads of four horses, one over the other. This is explained by a
complete pot at the British Museum, from Colchester, which has reliefs
of racing chariots as mentioned before (p. 51). On another Colchester
vase are Gladiators with their names scratched above. The eagle (Fig.
139) is from a fragment at Silchester.
[Illustration:
FIG. 139.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 140.
]
After having identified the pottery actually made in London, and the
other native sources from which other wares were brought, we might go on
to determine how far this native pottery is Celtic and how far Roman.
Fig. 140, restored from a large fragment of very coarse make in the
London Museum, and said to have been found at Mortlake, must have been
made long before the Roman invasion. Figs. 135 and 136 are urns of
Upchurch ware, carefully made and of lustrous black surface. The forms
of these are not Roman. The “spirit” of all is of Bronze Age and
Mycenæan character. The black pottery with “carinated” profiles found in
London, and now in our museums, may be Upchurch ware, but from Conyers’
account and sketches it seems probable that black and grey pottery was
made locally. In the museums, there are a few examples which seem to be
clearly Celtic, as, for example, a large fragment at the British Museum
with white stripes over a grey fabric. There seems, however, to have
been a curious disinclination to recognise Celtic art, and a desire to
call all Roman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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