Godronized roman silver bowl Silver, chased,... Lot 1

Godronized roman silver bowl Silver, chased, marbled and engraved, a ring of soft solder on the bottom. Little hollowed, with 32 concentric godrons around a flat mirror with centering point and two raised profile rings. The rim clearly profiled and bent 32 times. H 3,5, D 24,6 cm, weight 469 g. 2nd - 3rd century AD. For the first three centuries AD. No Roman silver objects with hallmarks are known. Before late antiquity there seems to have been no system of rules. The numerous legal texts deal with problems of all kinds raised by silver, but make no mention of a system of control. There are also few archaeological traces that would shed light on the techniques of Roman silversmithing. The most important silver mines in the Greek and Hellenistic world were at Laurion (Lavrio) in Attica, while in the Roman period silver was obtained mainly from Spanish mines. But silver was probably also mined in Britain. For the island's wealth in precious and other metals was crucial to the plans for invasion. Tacitus describes this in his Agricola: "Fert Britannia aurum et argentum et alia metalla, pretium victoriae". However, the English coin hoards contain coinage from all over the Roman Empire, from Augusta Treverorum to Antioch, which came to the island with trade. Ancient texts, such as those of Pliny or the epigrams of Martial, indicate the extraordinary popularity of certain Toreutian pieces, whose possession was contested: prices reached exceptional levels, which, in the absence of hallmarks, can be explained by the fact that the pieces were already then considered objects of art and value. Apart from trade, one came into possession of such a magnificent silver bowl through the favour of the emperor. Such "largitiones" were based on the rank and status of the recipient and served as a reward, often combined with additional monetary gifts. The recipient displayed the object as a status symbol. Provenance Formerly the James Bomford Collection. Exhibitions Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, June 1973 - March 1974 (loan no. 160). Literature Cf. the very similar silver bowl in the Römisch-Germanisches Museum Cologne, Inv.Nr. 200418, described by Dr. Friederike Naumann-Steckner as "product of a Gallo-Roman workshop of the 3rd century". Cf. Trésors d'orfèvrerie gallo-romain, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, Musée de la civilisation gallo-romaine, Lyon, 1989. Cf. the Gallic silver basin with folding handles in the Louvre collection (inv.no. MNE 1008). Cf. the bowl found at Chaourse in Picardy in the British Museum (Mus.No. 1889,1019.11). Cf. the basin from the Kaiseraugst treasure in the Augst Roman Museum, Switzerland (Inv. 62.23).