Yet another example of a fabric which was imported from Gaul into Italy is to be seen in the pottery of Banassac, a class of vases with inscriptions of a convivial character, with letters in relief encircling the body.[[3515]] The form is that of the hemispherical bowl No. 37, the appearance of which at Pompeii shows that it was developed before A.D. 79. They are found in large numbers in the south of France, especially at Nismes, Orange, Vienne, Montans (Tarn), as well as Banassac; at the latter place fragments have been found on the site of a pottery, showing that they were made there. The most notable example (Fig. [226]) was found at Pompeii, and is now in the Naples Museum[[3516]]; it is inscribed BIBE AMICE DE MEO, “Drink, friend, from my (cup),” the letters being separated by leaves, and is of ordinary red terra sigillata ware. Here, again, it is possible to date the fabric in the first century, not later than the reign of Vespasian. On the local specimens are found such sentiments as Gabalibus felicit(er), Remis (felici)ter, Sequanis feliciter[[3517]]; veni ad me amica; bonus puer; bona puella; the two last-named recalling the seaside mugs of the nineteenth century. The convivial inscriptions we shall meet with again in a later fabric from the region of the Rhine (p. [538]). Terra sigillata was also made here and at Montans in the Department of Tarn; the decoration is in the form of metopes, denoting the transitional period (about A.D. 70). No potters’ names are found on the inscribed vases.
From Mus. Borb.
FIG. 226. VASE OF BANASSAC FABRIC, FOUND AT POMPEII.
The pottery of Lezoux, in Auvergne, was first carefully studied by the late M. Plicque,[[3518]] who excavated there on a large scale in 1879 and succeeding years, and obtained as a result of his researches no less than three thousand different potters’ names, as well as the substructures of about a hundred and sixty furnaces, forty of which were in good preservation, comprising sixty-six distinct manufactories. About twenty-three more manufactories were traced along the principal roads and the banks of the Dore and Allier. He also found numerous remains of tools, potters’ wheels, and other apparatus. In addition, he excavated some two hundred tombs containing quantities of pottery, which seemed to imply a general use of it in funeral ceremonies. The potteries here seem to have been already in full working order in the time of Vespasian, and lasted down to about A.D. 260. The earliest date to be obtained from the evidence of coins is about A.D. 70, but the earliest fabrics seem to go back to the time of Claudius; the date of destruction of the site is indicated by coins of Gallienus and Saloninus found among the burnt ruins.
A large proportion of the vases have potters’ stamps, but there is no rule about the signatures.[[3519]] In the vases of form 29 the names are in the interior, denoting the masters of the potteries; in the later forms they are on the exterior, having been placed on the inside of the mould before baking, usually among the ornament. The ordinary formula is OF, M, or F, with the name in the genitive. As to the distribution of Lezoux vases, there was, as noted below, little exportation before A.D. 100, but after that time they prevail over Britain and Germany. Déchelette gives ninety-two examples with potters’ stamps in Britain, including twenty-one names. A few specimens have been found in North Italy; Paternus occurs at Turin, Albucius at Rome.
PLATE LXVIII
Gaulish Pottery found in Britain; Lezoux
Fabric; A.D. 70-250 (Brit. Mus.).