Ceramics home: Roman fineware.

Roman fineware

For eating and drinking, Roman Londoners used pottery with a much better finish than contemporary coarsewares. Made from more refined clay, these finewares were often coated with colourful slips. Painted or trailed clay designs (barbotine) were frequently added before firing. The Museum's fineware collection is large, illustrating many different styles.

Samian or metalwork often influenced the design of finewares. Some potters made samian-type bowls that were black rather than red (see London ware). Others produced distinctive flagons and pans that were sprinkled with gold-coloured mica so as to gleam like copper (see Local Mica-dusted wares).

Many fineware factories concentrated on beakers and flagons, shapes that were seldom produced in samian. Globular beakers, tapering to a narrow mouth, were especially popular from the late 2nd century onwards. They were richly decorated with mottos and floral or animal scenes.

In the 1st and 2nd centuries, finewares were mostly imported from specialised factories in Gaul or Germany. Later, London was supplied by British industries that often produced coarsewares as well. Oxfordshire, for instance, supplied white mortaria alongside red tablewares that extended the samian tradition into the 4th century.

Featured types

Central Gaulish and Rhenish wares (43 - 410)

London wares (43 - 410)

Local Mica-dusted wares (43 - 410)

Lyon and other first century imported wares (43 - 410)

Colchester wares (43 - 410)

Nene Valley wares (43 - 410)

Related objects

There are 291 related objects.

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A1732 jar.	A23510 bowl. Roman; mid 1st-mid 2nd century	A23509 bowl. Roman; mid 1st-mid 2nd century	A23508 bowl. Roman; mid 1st-mid 2nd century
A23507 bowl. Roman; mid 1st-mid 2nd century	3014 amphora; miniature amphora.	18385 cup. Roman	18868 beaker.
14870 bowl; carinated bowl. Roman; late 1st-mid 2nd century	25753 bowl. Late Iron Age-Roman; mid 1st-mid 2nd century	12092 beaker. Late Iron Age-Roman; 1st century	A27973 beaker. Roman; late 1st-early 2nd century
A24835 dish. Roman; mid-late 1st century	A20842 cup. Roman; late 1st-early 2nd century	2792 bowl. Roman; late 1st-early 2nd century	18354 beaker. Roman
10680 beaker. Roman	3062 beaker; indented beaker. Roman	3025 beaker; pentice beaker. Roman; late 2nd-4th century	411 beaker; pentice beaker. Roman
A2329 beaker; funnel-rimmed beaker. Roman; early-late 3rd century	22015 flagon; collared flagon. Late Iron Age-Roman; mid 1st-mid 2nd century	A21266 flagon; ring-neck flagon. Late Iron Age-Roman; 1st century	19803 jar. Roman

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