Olpe

This pot is similar to 54.107. The body was cast and is slightly smaller at the top than at the bottom with thickened rim. The handle, also cast, has a leaf-shaped plaque to fit under the bottom of the vase, an growing stalk pattern at the bottom and top, a plaque to fit the side of the vase near the rim, and a loop with ring extending over the inside of the vase. It is fastened by two rivets through the plaque near the rim.

The pot was extended to be suspended, probably over a fire in cooking, since it is not able to stand straight, and has a ring for suspension over its center of gravity.

A similar vase, with a triangular loop through the ring, was found in the Gallic cemetery at Montefortino; another was found in a Gallic grave at San Ginesio. These and others are in the museum at Ancona. Others are in the Museo delle Terme and the Villa Giulia in Rome. While sometimes considered characteristically Gallic, the presence of such vases around Rome suggests that they were taken by the Gauls from this region or from Etruscan sources.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] (?); Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase (?); Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.