Details

LOT 0590

Roman Ceramic Military Cremation Face Urn

1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

13 3/8 in. (5.13 kg, 34 cm wide).

For the deposition of ashes (absent), with bulbous body, everted rim and discoid foot, a stylised human face to the upper body expressed with three circular holes for the eyes and mouth, pinched nose in high-relief and raised eyebrows; repaired.

Provenance

Acquired 1960s-1990s.
Late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.

Literature

Cf. Colchester Museum, Roman face pots, types associated with military cremations, COLEM:JOS.817, COLEM:2001.18.125 & COLEM:1923.4595; cf. The British Museum, museum number 1927,0607.2; cf. The Museum of Art, Budapest, Inv. no. 65.91.A, dated 1st-2nd century A.D.; cf. The Museum of London, id. BAA87[187]<228>, dated 2nd century A.D.

Footnotes

Cremation was the usual burial practice in early Roman Britain and whilst it was common for larger ceramic or glass domestic vessels to be reused as cinerary urns, this particular type was created specifically for the purpose and was strongly associated with military contexts in Britain. After death, an individual would have been cremated on a pyre, the ashes gathered once the fire had gone out, and finally placed into the pot. The pot may then have been placed into a small 'tile tomb' buried beneath the ground. The face clearly has symbolic meaning; it may represent the deceased or a god, or may have served an apotropaic function, intended to ward-off evil spirits. The exact meaning of the face would have been clearer when the vessel was in situ alongside other associated burial goods. Although there are similarities in style across the known sample of Roman face pots, each is unique in some way. Face pot finds are concentrated in Colchester in Britain, suggesting a military association, since Camulodunum, 'The 'Fortress of the War God Camulos', was the capital of Roman Britain and Britain's first city. A more robust military connection was established by the archaeologist Gillian Braithwaite, whose survey of thousands of face pot sherds demonstrated that their occurrence spread rapidly though the Roman Empire, from the Black Sea, to Spain, the Mediterranean and Scotland. Braithwaite was able to link the pots to the Roman army and thus explain this phenomenon; as the units moved from province to province, face pots occurred in that region for the first time. The frequency of complete face pots suggests their use as cremation urns.