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Robin asks .

October 2012

I have a mysterious (silver?) vessel that has been in my collection for a

long time and was given to me as (allegedly) Roman. Cannot seem to find any similar vessel in books or online.

 

 







Very difficult to say how old it is.

The basic form of the bucket / situla remained essentially the same in most parts of the occidental world fromthe  the 2nd  millennium BC right up till modern times.

 Most Roman and Greek  situla have more or less straight  sides and the topis  generally wider than the base: just like a  typical modern bucket.

I did once have a slightly bulbous bronze one which was  Byzantine. Can't find the images for it  right now.

 One might generally expect some detailed chasing work on a silver one as silver was a very  expensive metal. 

Moderately decorated bronze situla have been found though most are fairly plain with only an additional decorative escutcheon on the rim on both sides where the handle joins.

 








 

Other forms.

 










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I suspect that it is not actualy solid silver but perhaps has a silvered or even  tinned surface which can look very silvery. Look at these areas of the surface.

 



 

From Robin.

The bottom area looks as if it might have been repaired at some time,you can notice what appear to be different metals or a somewhat heterogeneous alloy (the metal seems to be different in certain areas, as if the material had come from an series of different sources, as strange as this might sound).

 

The yellow splotch in the picture you posted  actually appears to be some kind of incrustation, I scratched part of it off with my finger (as you can see in the attached picture, given it was some kind of weird flaky substance and it allowed me to see the surface underneath, I don't think I did too much damage to the patina...) and it revealed a clean surface underneath of silvery color (which could be silver, silvered or tinned...).

I have been doing more research and found a few possible leads on the shape :at Christies but is Greek and bronze (it is somewhat more elaborate but the general shape is, to an extent, similar in having the inverted lines). And there is a Situla in Italy at the Buonconsiglio castle that is from the IVth century and somethat similar.

 




 

From Ken.

Aha!

Thanks Ken. It was staring me in the face!

It is  as one sees from the text a somewhat  "problematic" piece.

 







No. 108  is closer, but it is actually not a situla but the top part of a pedestalled vase with bucket handle.



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