Thread by @DocCrom

Ancient Artefact of the Day: The Great Dish from the Mildenhall Treasure, a stunning piece of 4th Century AD Romano-British silverwork, with decoration focussed on Bacchic revelry. #AAOTD

Image: British Museum (1946,1007.1)

The Mildenhall Treasure was discovered in 1946 and is one of the most spectacular survivals of silverware from the late Roman empire.

The decoration on the Great Dish, as it is called, is centred on Bacchus, though the central tondo is interpreted as being a face of Oceanus with dolphins, with a surrounding frieze of nymphs and hippocamps, then a third band of decoration dominated by Satyrs and Maenads.

The scenes in the outer frieze are particularly arresting, with all of the key features of Dionysiac imagery: Satyrs and Maenads in ecstatic frenzy, panthers, and theatrical masks abound in the field.

Another object, not much smaller than the Great Dish, is the so-called Niello Platter; the decoration here is more simple, though no less intricate, with geometric designs filled with silver sulphide (niello) to create a colour contrast.

Image: British Museum (1946,1007.4)

For more on the platters and associated objects, see:

Hobbs, Richard. “Platters in the Mildenhall Treasure.” Britannia, vol. 41, 2010, pp. 324–333.

jstor.org/stable/41725170

#AAOTD