Object Description
An Ancient Roman red slipware jug from North Africa. The jug features a piriform body, tapering at the neck atop which sits a round terminal and flared lip. A handle curves from beneath the terminal to meet at the shoulder and is adorned with a vine pattern and geometric incisions at the base. The body is enriched with applied decorations of three long, palm leaves situated vertically beneath an encircling incised line. Between the palm leaves is a female figure, perhaps a goddess, surrounded by swirling drapery, and a boar running uphill on the opposite side. The detail here is highly intricate and rendered naturalistically, though the images could have a variety of interpretations. The female figure may represent Artemis, goddess of the hunt who was closely associated with boars. Alternatively, it could portray a Bacchic maenad, as wild and flowing drapery was a key feature in their artistic depictions and Bacchus himself was a common design on pottery such as this. The imagery could even be a stylised representation of the myth of the Caledonian boar, a beast sent by Artemis and wounded by Atalanta. The vessel sits upon a raised round foot.
Date: Circa 1st-3rd Century AD