Stamped Amphora Handle
160-220 CE
Description
The amphora stamps of the Melissi family are found all over the western Mediterranean, in such frequency and extent as to suggest that they must have been one of the wealthiest and most productive families in Spain. The distribution of stamps of L. Iunius Melissus range from the 160s through the early part of the 3rd century CE, to judge from the find-spots of stamps in Monte Testaccio. He seems to have inherited the business from the two Melissi (husband and wife, or brother and sister) who stamped their handles as II IVN. MELISSI ET MELISS(a)E, and was probably the son of both or one of them; the museum has a copy of that stamp (1977.216.3037).
Dimensions
12.7 cm (5 in.)
Provenance
From Monte Testaccio, acquired; by George J. Pfeiffer and Rachel Hartwell Pfeiffer, Cambridge, MA (by 1905), gift; to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (1905-1977), transfer; to the Fogg Museum, 1977. Transfer from Department of the Classics, 1977.
Related Artworks
View MorePale green glass
1st-2nd century CERomanSplashed Jun ware: off-white stoneware with robin's-egg blue glaze enlivened with purple suffusions from copper filings
13th-14th centuryChineseTerracotta
GreekSilver
18th centuryBritishBlue-green glass
4th-5th century CERomanSilver
18th centuryBritishCeramic
ItalianCeramic
20th centurySwedishWhite ware: white stoneware with clear, pale celadon-type glaze
7th centuryChineseEtching fired onto ceramic plate, then colored, glazed, and refired
19th centuryFrenchCeramic
20th centuryAmericanRusset Yaozhou ware: light gray stoneware with russet-surfaced dark brown glaze. From the Huangpu kiln complex, Tongchuan, Yaozhou county, Shaanxi province.
11th-12th centuryChinese