- Museum number
- 1946,1007.3
- Title
- Object: The Mildenhall Bacchic plate
- Description
-
Silver plate, gently concave in profile, with beaded rim (64 beads in total) on a circular foot-ring. The upper surface is decorated in relief by a chased design of a dancing satyr in the left field with right arm raised and left arm outstretched. He casts his eyes towards a robed maenad in the right field holding a thyrsus in her right arm and a tambourine in her left. Between their feet are a pair of cymbals and in the lower field an animal skin with grapes and fruits and a pedum for transportation. In the lower left field is a syrinx, and above the heads of the figures a lidded vessel on a pedestal.
- Production date
- 4thC
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 64 millimetres (foot-ring)
-
Diameter: 185 millimetres
-
Height: 10 millimetres (foot-ring)
-
Height: 25.50 millimetres
-
Weight: 613 grammes
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
-
Similar in style to 1946,1007.2.
-
One of a pair of small dishes or platters with Bacchic scenes which are closely related in style and subject to the Great Dish itself. The Greek name Eutherios is scratched lightly on the underside of the dish within the footring. It is written in the genitive (possessive) case, which suggests that he was once the owner of the plate.
-
Blurton 1997
This is one of a pair of small decorated dishes belonging to a large hoard of late-Roman silver vessels, hidden for safe-keeping at a time of trouble during the fourth century AD and unearthed in the 1940s. Silver tableware was owned and used by wealthy people in the Roman world, and was frequently very richly ornamented. Religious and mythological themes, especially relating to the cult of Bacchus, the god of wine, were typical subjects for the decoration. This group of rich silverware is decorated with traditional, classical themes, but there are also some references to Christianity, in the form of the chi-rho monogram, in the treasure. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 324 AD.
- Bibliographic references
-
Painter 1977a / The Mildenhall Treasure: Roman Silver from East Anglia
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Blurton 1997 / The Enduring Image: Treasures from the British Museum (185)
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Hobbs 2008 / The secret history of the Mildenhall treasure
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R I B / The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (II.2, 2414.6, p. 32)
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Roman Britain 1964 / Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain (p. 40, pl. 7.11)
-
Hobbs & Jackson 2010 / Roman Britain Life at the Edge of Empire (p. 151, fig. 121)
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Hobbs 2016 / The Mildenhall Treasure: Late Roman Silver Plate from East Anglia (cover, p.1, pl.1, p.2, pl.4, p.3, p.4, p.5, pl.8, p.7, p.10, pl.13, pl.14, p.11, pl.15, pl.17, p.12, pl.18, p.14, p.15, p.16, p.17, table.2, p.18, p.49, p.50, p.51, p.52, table.6, p.53, p.63-80, p.67-71, p.68, pl.99, p.69, pl.100, p.70, pl.101-103, p.71, pl.104-106, p.72, pl.107, p.73, table.7, p.74-76, p.77, p.78, pl.113-115, p.79, p.80, p.87-88, p.155, p.157, p.233, p.234, pl.396, p.237, p.241, p.242, table.17, p.244, p.245, p.266, table.28, p.267, pl.407, p.268, p.269, p.271, p.279, table.31, p.280, p.284, p.288, p.297, p.298) (cat.3)
- Location
- On display (G49/dc22)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2005-2006 25 Jul-13 Jan, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
2005 12 Feb-26 Jun, Newcastle, Hancock Museum, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
2004-2005 1 Oct-15 Jan, Manchester Museum, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
2004 30 Apr-21 Sep, Cardiff, National Museums & Galleries of Wales, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
2003-2004 21 Nov-14 Mar, London, BM, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
1998 9 Feb-3 May, India, Mumbai, Sir Caswasjee Jahangir Hall, The Enduring Image
1997 13 Oct-1998 5 Jan, India, New Delhi, National Museum, The Enduring Image
- Acquisition date
- 1946
- Acquisition notes
- Found while ploughing, 1942
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1946,1007.3