Roman Samian Ware Wine Cup
1st century B.C.-1st century A.D. Or a scyphus drinking cup, composed of a conical body, moulded foot, volute plates with gusseted handles below, bearded mature male mask plaques to the handle bases; floral, geometric and architectural decorative motifs to the body; possible maker's finger prints in the clay; some restoration. Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession number 17.194.894, for a comparable vessel.111 grams, 12.5 cm wide (5 in.). English collection, 1990s. Ex property of a Suffolk, UK, gentleman. Prolific workshops making such terracotta operated at Arretium (modern Arezzo, Italy) during the Julio-Claudian period. They displayed lavish relief depictions of mythological scenes or floral and foliate ornamentation.