platter
- Museum number
- 1946,1007.4
- Title
- Object: The Mildenhall niello platter
- Description
-
Silver platter with beaded rim (128 beads in total) on a high and wide vertical foot-ring. The central part of the vessel is slightly convex in profile, then steps up to a flat rim flange. The upper surface of the platter is mostly plain except for the central medallion and the flat 'inner' rim that are decorated with incised geometric designs inlaid with niello. The central medallion is decorated with rosetttes and quatrefoil motifs all enclosed within an anti-clockwise wave pattern. The 'inner' rim is decorated with 6 friezes divided by rosettes; each frieze is mirrored across the vessel and includes a variety of complex geometric motifs that include rosettes, lozenges and diamonds, all infilled with incised lines with curled terminals.
- Production date
- 4thC
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 371 millimetres (foot-ring)
-
Diameter: 556 millimetres
-
Height: 13 millimetres (foot-ring)
-
Height: 34 millimetres
-
Weight: 5023 grammes
- Curator's comments
- This platter is not much smaller than the Great Dish, but its decoration belongs to a more restrained tradition, carried out simply in engraved lines filled with niello, silver sulphide which provides a black contrast to the silver.
K.S. Painter, The Mildenhall Treasure (London, 1977)
- Bibliographic references
-
Painter 1977a / The Mildenhall Treasure: Roman Silver from East Anglia
-
Hobbs 2008 / The secret history of the Mildenhall treasure
-
Roman Britain 1964 / Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain (p. 40)
-
Hobbs & Jackson 2010 / Roman Britain Life at the Edge of Empire (p. 151, fig. 121)
-
Hobbs 2016 / The Mildenhall Treasure: Late Roman Silver Plate from East Anglia (p.1, pl.1, p.4, p.5, pl.8, p.7, p.10, pl.13, p.11, pl.15, pl.17, p.12, pl.18, p.15, p.16, p.17, table.2, p.21, p.39, p.76, p.81-99, p.82, pl.116, p.83, pl.117, p.84, pl.118-120, p.85, pl.121-124, p.86, pl.125-126, p.87, table.8, p.88, pl.127, p.92, table.9, p.96, pl.141-143, p.97, pl.144, p.98, pl.145-146, p.125, p.187, p.202, p.213, p.234, p.241, p.242, table.17, p.244, p.246, p.266, table.28, p.267, pl.407, p.268, p.271, p.273, p.274, p.277, p.279, table.31, p.281, p.297, p.298) (cat.4)
- 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
- Acquisition date
- 1946
- Acquisition notes
- Found while ploughing, 1942
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1946,1007.4