Artwork Page for Beaker with Scale Pattern

Details / Information for Beaker with Scale Pattern

Beaker with Scale Pattern

1–100 CE

Rhenish (Cologne), Gallo-Roman, 1st Century

Medium
reddish ware with dark gray burnished slip
Measurements
Diameter: 10.2 cm (4 in.); Overall: 11.2 cm (4 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Rainer Zietz 1992.183
Public Domain
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Location
103 Roman
Print
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Did You Know?

Several textile fibers were found inside this beaker, suggesting that it may have contained an object or objects wrapped in cloth when it was buried.

Description

The dark brown glaze on the exterior of this beaker is patchy and irregular, allowing the light red clay beneath to show through. The glaze is especially light on the ridges of the raised scales that decorate the upper body of the vessel, arranged in four offset rows. The pattern was created by applying thick clay slip to the surface of the beaker after it was removed from the potter’s wheel.
A rounded ceramic vessel tapers sharply to a narrow base, finished with a dark, burnished slip. Three rows of overlapping semicircles encircle the body, their raised edges suggesting the rhythmic texture of fish scales. The charcoal glaze transitions into matte, reddish-brown patches toward the bottom. A worn, earthy area disrupts the finish on the lower right, accentuating the vessel's aged, weathered appearance as it catches the low light.

Beaker with Scale Pattern

1–100 CE

Rhenish (Cologne), Gallo-Roman, 1st Century

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