Silver bowl
Other dimensions: foot height - 7 mm; foot diameter - 42 mm; silver sheet thickness - 2.5 mm.
Although in better condition than the other pieces, this vase has also been chipped at the mouth and partially deformed. It is hemispherical in shape, with a short ring foot, is only 33 mm in height, and weighs 198.2 g. The cup itself was turned, then engraved and chased; the foot was similarly turned and finished separately, after which the two parts of the vase were soldered together, as in the previous piece. The cup is concave, with a thickened lip, part of the series of silver Roman vases that are circular and concave, with a thickened lip and a short foot. Inside, just below the lip, a circular line has been incised.
The ringfoot at the base is slightly oblique towards the inside. In the middle, there is a recessed point, surrounded by a circular groove.
On the outside, just below the lip, there is a groove, followed by a decoration comprising two registers. The upper register, delimited by a beaded line at the top and bottom, contains elements that do not allow for the determination of a beginning or an end. Aquatic birds and trees, fish and woven baskets, juxtaposed without apparent logic, constitute a decor that seems to aim only at aesthetic effect. If, in some cases, repetitions are noted, they are justified only by the exhaustion of the ornamental repertoire. The element in question is one of the fish, namely a predatory fish from the Oarangidae family, specific to the Southern seas, which has just swallowed two aquatic birds (geese) whose heads are still visible. Next, almost without interruption, is the terminal part of a fishing instrument, a bird with a downward-pointing beak (a flamingo – Phoenicopterus suber), a woven basket of conical shape with an upper opening and a horizontal handle, and finally a second woven basket, of conical shape with a flat bottom, from which the heads of two fish (herrings – family Clupeidae) emerge; above the basket is depicted a small flying bird (?), perhaps a wild pigeon – Columba oenas; the bottom of the basket is obscured by two fish similar to the previous ones that cross each other. Next, on a very small scale and with no relation to the theme described above, is a cypress. The decoration also includes a conical basket with a rounded bottom and vertical handles, a braided band (probably belonging to another fishing tool), a bird seen from above (perhaps the legendary heron Abou-Markoub – Balaeniceps rex), two more woven baskets (one conical with a rounded bottom and vertical handles, the other conical with a horizontal handle), a crab with downward-facing claws, and a spheroidal basket with a horizontal handle and lid (for fishing?), topped with a herring. The decorative register is continued by a bird (a duck?)
holding a fish in its beak, a fishing instrument (a trap with vertical handles and a long tubular extension) also topped with a herring; then, another cypress (or a pyramidal poplar?) of small dimensions, another bird (a goose) holding a fish in its beak, turned to the left; another basket (conical, it seems) from which the heads of two herrings emerge and topped with two more herrings; under the basket is depicted a crab similar to the first, and above the basket is a new wild pigeon in flight (?). Finally, another bird, a cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), topped with a spheroidal basket, completes this decorative register.
Due to excessive stylisation, some essential details of the animals have been overlooked, particularly in the case of the fish, which appear without their characteristic fins; similarly, it is impossible to tell whether the two trees represent two similar cypresses, or two cypresses of different species, or two different trees.
The baskets, made entirely of wicker according to all appearances, are of several types, some of which certainly represent fishing instruments: conical basket with a wide opening and rounded bottom, vertical handles, and an elongated cylindrical part extending from the bottom; spheroidal basket with a horizontal handle and a hinged lid; conical basket with a wide mouth (bag-shaped), pointed bottom, horizontal handle, and large square mesh; elongated cone-shaped basket with a rounded bottom and vertical handles; basket of the same type, but without handles.
The decoration was done by engraving, incision, and punching.
The second (lower) register is composed of two pairs of facing sea monsters. The bodies of the four fantastic animals are identical: they are in the shape of an undulating serpent, covered in scales, and with a trifid tail. The heads, in turn, represent two groups: antithetical, herbivore-raptor: bovine-griffin for one pair and gazelle-griffin for the other. If the bovine has front feet ending in hooves, almost glued to the feline paws of the griffin, the gazelle's hooves are some distance from the paws of the other griffin; all the monsters have their legs extended as if to jump. The griffin facing the bovine has a raptor's beak, a short neck separated from the body by a jagged crest, and the bovine has small crescent-shaped horns swept back and a thick and powerful neck. The gazelle has a slender and nervous neck, a delicate head, and long horns pointing backwards; the griffin facing it has a horn extending from the top of its head and long horns projecting forward. Under these animals are schematically depicted waves, in the shape of inverted S's, like an arc or almost sinusoidal. This decoration was made using the same means as the previous one.
From an artistic perspective, the Muncelul de Sus cup demonstrates a remarkable sense of balance, a skilful contrast between the intentionally complicated ensemble of the upper register and the simplified and clear one of the lower register. This contrast does not diminish in any way the unity of the theme, which represents the marine thiasos.
The technical means employed by the goldsmith to achieve the goal he set for himself attest to his mastery, which assigns him to an artisanal centre of ancient tradition. By its shape, the cup belongs to the period between the 1st and 3rd centuries, with some analogies even allowing for a slightly more precise dating. Indeed, the analysis of the decoration places it among one of the favourite motifs of Roman goldsmithing, namely, among the picturesque representations of landscape reliefs, with marine models originating from Alexandria. If we refer to the fantastic animal decoration, vases with such decoration have been attributed to centres in Asia Minor, although in this case the upper register includes, besides sea fish, crabs, and cypresses, species specific to the Nile Delta. On the other hand, the similarities in form with certain types of sigillata (Dragendorff 37), the existence of horizontal registers, common in the 2nd century AD in ceramics, sigillata, and silver vases, as well as the direct analogies with the discoveries from Tourdan-Vienne, Chaource, Mildenhall-Suffolk, and Straze, allow us to restrict the Muncelul de Sus cup, which likely comes from Alexandria, to the 2nd century AD.
