The first centuries BC and AD encompassed the first great period of Roman silverware
production. Wall-paintings, surviving pieces, and textual references all testify to the importance
of silverware, in particular the silver vessels and implements used in the preparation, service, and
drinking of wine, during this period. Besides the functional aspects, possession of silverware
served also as an indicator of one's wealth and status.
In a number of wall-paintings with banqueting or related themes, primarily from
Campania but also from Rome, silverware plays a prominent role. The painted vessels are often
viewed, by modern scholars, as representative of the kinds of vessels then current in the Roman
world, as if the painters were using actual pieces for models. This provides the point of departure
for this dissertation, a detailed study of drinking silver in Romano-Campanian wall-painting.
Such a study reveals more than just whether or not the painters were closely copying
actual vessels; it is, in fact, argued here that such copying was not part of their usual procedure.
The paintings also reveal what kinds of vessels were considered relevant in a banqueting context,
and at times, how these vessels were used. Other areas onto which the paintings cast light include
the working methods in general of the painters, the question of prototypes and their possible
contents, and the role of the patron.
The paintings studied in this dissertation cannot be divorced from Roman wall-paintings
as a whole. The conclusions drawn here, therefore, have relevance for all Roman wall-paintings
and, to some degree, for Roman art in general. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/15820 |
| Date | 04 1900 |
| Creators | Tamm, John A. |
| Contributors | Dunbabin, K.M.D., Classical Studies |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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