French term (edited): C�ramique sigill�e

. Subject Field(s)
– Archéologie

Subject Field(s)
– Archeology

Subject Field(s)
– Archeology
céramique sigillée Source sealed ware Source sealed ware Source

French term (edited): C�ramique sigill�e

Domaine(s)
  – Archeology
Domaine(s)
  – Archéologie
 
sigillated pottery Source

poterie sigillée Source

OBS – Oct 24 1968 Source

OBS – (archéologie) (BNF 14.9.68)
Source



there's this too, incase it helps:
Domaine(s)
  – Clay Working Methods (Ceramics)
Domaine(s)
  – Techniques de la céramique
 
empress Source

sigilé Source

imprimé Source

insculpé Source

OBS – Sigilé (avec un sceau); imprimé
(par décalcomanie); insculpé (avec un
poinçon) Source

Domaine(s)
  – Archeology
Domaine(s)
  – Archéologie
 
fictile art Source

céramique Source

OBS – the art of moulding pottery, or
ceramic. Source

French term (edited): C�ramique sigill�e

I think that Aisha had it right the soonest.

Bourth's sources are somewhat in conflict regarding "terra sigillata" and need to be evaluated as sources.

From the Britannica article it looks like the name originally used for the RED *slip* is now applied generically to the type of pottery ("ware") itself.

This makes sense, but, since there is some ambiguity, it might be best to use the topological term originally relating to the origin of this pottery (even though that is now thought to be incorrect) : "Samian ware" --probably properly capitalised, since it refers to a placename.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 49 mins (2005-04-15 14:33:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And, yes Bourth, learning new stuff is always fun.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr 13 mins (2005-04-15 14:56:52 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I see now that I was misled by one of Bourth\'s sources and \"terra sigillata\" --literally \"sealed ware\" in Latin-- can\'t really refer to the SLIP, any more than \"Samian\" refers to Samoa.

That source has misunderstood the term and applied it to the characteristic red and shiny slip seen on this pottery rather than to its essential (and defining) feature, which is that it is marked with the \"seal\" (signature) of its maker.

I think that we should go with the Britannic on this one, rather than some websites of questionable authority which contradict it. And note that the two English sites which Aisha found agree with it.

French term (edited): C�ramique sigill�e

While "sigillated" is defined in dictionaries and is said to refer specifically to pottery, I can't say I'm convinced archaeologists use the term. All the Googles I looked into were either dictionary sites or (translated) texts on FRENCH sites. It may be that "sigillary pottery" was a peculiarly Gallic thing, ceci expliquant cela, but I'm pretty sure other civilizations did the same.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 32 mins (2005-04-15 14:15:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

While \"terra sigillata\" looked good at first, I am having doubts about that too, since some sources claim it is (necessarily?) RED, others that it applies to the slip coat rather then the relief seal itself ...

terra sigillata ware
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
bright-RED, polished pottery used throughout the Roman Empire from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD. The term means literally ware made of clay impressed with designs. Other names for the ware are Samian ware (a misnomer, since it has nothing to do with the island of Samos) and Arretine ware (which, properly speaking, should be restricted to that produced at Arretium—modern…
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9071782

terra sigillata An extraordinary fine-ground clay suspension in water that shines when applied as a coating. It is always fired at low temperatures to preserve the shine.

Terra sigillata is best applied to greenware. It can be applied by brushing, spraying, dipping, and pouring. Terra sigillata is often used with sgraffito imagery on greenware pieces, a technique used by the ancient Greek vase painters.
[http://www.mintmuseum.org/chasanoff/process/glossary.htm]

Terra sigillata ~ A variety of SLIP made by mixing clay and water and allowing it to settle. Characteristically thinner than other slips, terra sig dries to a soft, silky sheen.

Terra Sigillata. A porous red clay ware characterized by embossed decorations of the same color and a satin-like unglazed surface; originated on the Island of Samoa.
[http://www.contractorreferral.com/glossary/index.php?letter=...]
[Samoa??? Methinks not!]

Might it in fact be (a form of) sgraffito work?

Sgraffito ~ A method of producing a design on ceramics, murals, etc. by incising the outer coating of slip or glaze to reveal the ground of a different color. A surface decoration drawing technique in which coats of contrasting underglazes or colored slips are applied to clay, then scratched off with a fine-pointed tool to reveal layers beneath the surface.
[http://www.creativeglazes.com/ceramics101/howto9.htm]

More research required ...


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs 54 mins (2005-04-15 17:37:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Finally, sigillated has it :

Britannica (1963) , Pottery and Porcelain :
Roman pottery
It was also at Etruria, at Arezzo (Arretium), that the first Italian fabric was established of the fine red pottery, variously called Arretine or Samian or terra sigillata , which became the standard ware throughout the Roman world for several centuries. Terra sigillata is the modern archaeological name for the whole class. Samian is a misnomer; it may perhaps be applied to some Greek fabrics, but means nothing definite. Pliny says that the reputation formerly held by Samian table pottery had passed in his tay to Arretium and other places in Italy, Spain, and Asia Minor. …

[Follows chapter on Arretine]

Gaulish Terra Sigillata
The Italian fabric came to an end about AD 100, being displaced in Italy and the provinces by terra sigillata made in France. Italy still produced its own coarse pottery for ordinary domestic use, unglazed and undecorated vessels, which formed the bulk of ancient pottery at all periods. The new Gaulish ware was precisely the same as Arretine in fabric, and at least as good in technical quality; its colour is even superior, a darker and brighter red, and its paste is usually harder than the Arretine. But the decoration is inferior, the ornament is very low in relief, and designs and figures are generally small and mean. It is found all over the Roman world, but most abundantly in central France. Finds of moulds and kilns have fixed the localities of the two principal fabrics at La Graufenesque (Aveyron) and Lezoux (Puy de Dôme), in the ancient Rutenian and Arvernian territories [Follows a quarter page] There are few mythological groups. A purely Roman subject, the gladiatorial duel, is very frequent. In the free style hunters chasing animals are popular subjects.

Britannica (1963), Roman Art :
Figured pottery
The figured terra cotta tablewares (terra sigillata—a term often incorrectly stretched to cover plain wares) were cheaper versions of the costly decorated silverwares. During the last century of teh republic and in the early decades of the 1st century of the empire, Arretium (Arezzo) was the most flourishing centre of the manufacture of a fine type of red-gloss pottery …. From shortly before the middle of the 1st century AD onward, the markets enjoyed by the Italian fabrics were captured by the products of potteries now established in southern, central, and eastern Gaul. These manufactured cheaper, more mass-produced and aesthetically inferior red-gloss and black-gloss wares, popularly known as \"Samian\", some varieties of which continued into the 4th century. The decoration of the Gaulish pots was, for the most part, molded; but some vessels carry applied motifs made in individual molds; while others show designs incised to counterfeit cut glass …