Academic literature on the topic 'Arretine Pottery'

A bronze portrait of a child (figs. 1-4) belonging to the category of “small format” portraits is preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Badajoz (inv. no. 4471). It was found in 1970 in excavations conducted by J. M. Peralta y Sosa on a farm in the Vega del Ortiga, an area east of Medellín in the territory between that town and Don Benito (Lusitania), some 35 km from Mérida (Augusta Emerita). In the excavated area of 40 m2 (fig. 5) were two cisterns and a rectangular well, at the bottom of which was the bronze portrait. The N cistern measured 3.8 x 1.25 m. Attached to its E side was a rectangular (80 x 60 cm) well. A channel in the centre of the S wall of the well was connected to a square (3.45 x 2.9 m) cistern. From its W wall a drain leads into a channel towards the Ortiga river, which flows by some 50 m away. On the E side of the excavation area were two identical column bases which could have belonged to a peristyle. One is a square (90 x 80 cm) block preserving traces of a column shaft 65 cm in diameter, while the other, 3 m to the north, retains the beginning of the shaft. From this point a wall (45 cm thick) faced with stucco starts to head north. The pottery found during the excavation included Arretine, South Gaulish and thin-walled wares belonging to the first quarter of the 1st c. A.D. The site appears to have been part of a Roman villa.

Abstract Some musical themes represented in terra sigillata reflect the political propaganda of the Augustan regime, as in the presence of Apollo citharoedus, of Sirens and of Hercules with the Muses. This visual repertory shares many features with the Augustan poets (especially the elegists) and with other private art of the Augustan period. Arretine ware potters often included Dionysiac, symposiastic and erotic scenes in their repertory, moving well beyond Augustus’ official program. They recall formal and cultural models of the Hellenistic era.

Results of research on the production and distribution of terra sigillata are frequently used as weighty arguments in the discussion of the character of the Roman economy as a whole. Still, many substantial problems remain under discussion, among them the important question of how the mass production of this ware was organized. By re-examining and combining evidence from various production centres, the present thesis aims to develop a comprehensive model for the organization of terra sigillata production. It employs comparative and complementary approaches to interpret the archaeological and epigraphical material, and also analyzes the underlying social and legal structures. Theoretical conceptions of the organization of pottery production are dealt with, and the role of terra sigillata production in models of ancient economy is discussed. The principal focus of the study is on some of the most important centres of terra sigillata production in Italy, Gaul, Germany, Spain, and Africa. Although each production centre has its own individual features, common ones prevail. The application of producers' signatures can be explained by the joint use of production facilities, especially drying sheds, and the exchange of moulds. Similarities in the use of signatures are interpreted as indicating similarities in the organization of production, whereas irregularities in their application are looked upon as the result of varying production conditions. The interpretation of the potters' graffiti enables us to postulate the existence of a leasehold system in which the lessor entered into contracts with lessee workshop managers to deliver set numbers of vessels. Firing masters, who were potters themselves and responsible for the operation of the kilns, acted as middlemen or directly on behalf of the lessor, approving and controlling the potters' work. The mode of production in all centres appears to have been a nucleated workshop industry rather than a manufactory, based on a leasehold system and regulated by large-scale traders, with the producers' social status being of little relevance. Thus all arguments founded upon the distinction of Italian slave manufactories and cooperative production of free men in the western provinces are no longer plausible.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2004.
Advisor: Dr. Nancy T. de Grummond, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Classics. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 27, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.