Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei (Budapest, 2008)

DÉNES GABLER AND ANDRÁS MÁRTON: Head-Pots in the Antiquities Collection

in Cologne, may come from the workshop of Navigius. Satyrs, w

r

ho express the pleasures of Dionysus, are relavtively common on ancient head-pots. 0 There arc good parallels even in Pannónia for satyrs, like our piece, with a headband.'

1 The North African localization of the head-pots can be confirmed partly through iconographie comparison with the representations on North African mosaics, and partly by observations regarding the similarity of their style and craftsmanship to other known local wares. More recently, materials tests have also confirmed the impressions gleaned from iconography and technical examination. The type appears in North Africa from the first half of the third century AD. The distribution range of the type published here is quite limited: almost all known pieces were found in central Tunisia, where the centre of production was also surely located. : Several pieces carry the signature of their makers, allowing us to differentiate several different workshops. Alongside Navigius, well known for his biconic jugs and cylindrical vases, we have the officináé of Septus, Tahinas, Olitresis, lanuarius and Saturninus. The close connection between the different workshops is also attested by the fact that the pieces from the various workshops often come from the same mould (matrix), and only the stamp differs.

74 In our case, the satyr-vase can carry the signatures of either Olitresis or Tahinas. The potters clearly must have used the same forms or purchased them from each other, or perhaps worked with the same mould makers. The connections between workshops and the legal status of the potters with respect to the owner of the fundus to which they belonged, are still debated questions. Recent studies of Egyptian papyri from the Middle and Late Empire have shown that potters under a rent-paying or otherwise contracted to the landowner: perhaps it was the same in Africa.' The close ties between the workshops seem to point to a single centre of production, whose leading force may have been Navigius. 6 His was the most important workshop, and we have signed examples of all the main types from him. One cylindrical jug signed by Navigius was found in the cemetery of El Aouja (Tunisia) together with vases of the A to C series of production, and with pottery of relief ware C. Salmonson thus dated the ware with terra sigillata chiara A-C and relief ware C." It is therefore worth asking how the Navigius ware can be brought into contact with the chronological framework defined by the mentioned pottery types and the related lamps? No direct connection can be shown either with the El Aouja pottery C'~

2 nor with sigillata with applique decoration, or with the relief ware C

3

.

78 Navigius' workshop can therefore be held separate from the workshops of A-C pottery as well as those that produced terra sigillata chiara with relief decoration. The connection to the lamp makers was probably closer: lamps and head-pots were occasionally made by the same workshops. Gududio, for example, made lamps. Navigius'