Ancient Artefact of the Day: The 'Empress Pepper-Pot' from the Hoxne Hoard, buried in the Fifth Century AD in Suffolk, UK.
A Roman gilded silver piperatorium, ca. AD 300-400. #AAOTD
Image: British Museum (1994,0408.33)
A Roman gilded silver piperatorium, ca. AD 300-400. #AAOTD
Image: British Museum (1994,0408.33)
This exquisite little piece was found with three other piperatoria (the wrestling figures of Hercules and Antaeus, and two animal groups, a reclining goat or ibex and a hound chasing a hare), and some 15,000 Roman coins along with other precious objects.
It is thought that the pepper-pot may be intended as a representation of the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, although it must be acknowledged that this is somewhat tenuous at best.
The ascription may well be informed by the similarity of the figure to that of the so-called Steelyard Weights which are thought to be depictions of Byzantine empresses, such as this example ca. AD 400-450.
Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1980.416a, b)
Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1980.416a, b)
Certainly the figure in the 'Empress Pepper-Pot' is heavily ornamented, with jewellery and an ornate hair-style, which are suggestive of high status, though the features seem more generic than specific to an individual.
For more on the pepper-pot and the Hoxne Hoard, see:
Johns, Catherine, and Roger Bland. “The Hoxne Late Roman Treasure.” Britannia, vol. 25, 1994, pp. 165–173.
#AAOTD
Johns, Catherine, and Roger Bland. “The Hoxne Late Roman Treasure.” Britannia, vol. 25, 1994, pp. 165–173.
#AAOTD
