It is possible that Trier, and in fact all places mentioned in a preceding chapter (p. [453]) as sites of kilns may be regarded as centres of manufacture, though in only a few cases was anything made beyond the ordinary plain wares. Of the latter a useful summary has been made by Koenen,[[3551]] chiefly from the technical point of view, which it may be worth while to recapitulate. He divides the pottery of the Rhine district (which may be taken as typical) into three main classes: the first transitional from the La Tène period[[3552]] to Roman times; the second, native half-baked cinerary urns; the third, Roman pottery, ousting the other two. The first two classes cover the local hand-made wares of grey, brown, or black clay, which are clearly of native make, and like the similar wares of Britain and Gaul hardly come under the heading of Roman pottery, though subsequently they felt its influence. The Roman pottery proper (which can be well studied in the museums of Bonn, Trier, and elsewhere on the Rhine) is divided by Koenen into three periods: Early, Middle, and Late Empire. Roman wares first appear with coins of Augustus, and at this period exercise much influence on the La Tène types, producing a sort of mixed style, usually of greyish or black clay with impressed or incised ornament, subsequently replaced by barbotine. The terra sigillata is either of the superior deep red variety with sharp outlines and details, which we have seen to emanate from Gaul, or else plain ware of a light red hue (“false Samian”), without ornament.[[3553]] But as Hölder has pointed out,[[3554]] the settlement of the chronology of German pottery (apart from the sigillata) is particularly difficult, because we are dealing with a purely utilitarian fabric, which consequently preserved its forms unaltered through a considerable period; moreover, there must have been many local fabrics and little exportation, which makes comparison difficult.
FIG. 229. GERMAN JAR WITH CONVIVIAL INSCRIPTION (BRITISH MUSEUM).
To the German fabrics belong a group of vases with painted inscriptions found on the Lower Rhine, and less frequently in North and East France.[[3555]] They occur in the second century at the Saalburg, and last down to the fourth; large numbers have also been found at Trier, and other examples at Mesnil and Étaples (Gessoriacum) in France.[[3556]] The usual form is that of a round-bellied cup or jar (Fig. [229]), with a more or less high stem and plain moulded mouth. Their ornamentation is confined to berries, vine-tendrils, and scrolls, at first naturalistic, afterwards becoming conventionalised; but their chief interest lies in the inscriptions, which, like those of the Banassac type described above (p. [524]), are of a convivial character. They are painted in bold well-formed capitals, in the same white pigment which is used for the ornamentation; the following examples will serve as specimens:
AMAS ME, AMO, AMO TE CONDITE.[[3557]]
AVE, AVE COPO, AVETE.[[3558]]
BELLVS SVA(deo?).[[3559]]
BIBE, BIBATIS, BIBAMVS PIE, BIBE VIVAS, BIBE VIVAS
MVLTIS ANNIS.[[3560]]
DA BIBERE, DA MERVM, DA MI, DA VINVM.[[3561]]