Silver cup
The vessel is chipped at the rim and partially deformed. It is hemispherical in shape, with a short annular foot, only 33 mm in height, and weighs 198.2 g. The cup itself was turned, then engraved and chiselled; the foot was likewise turned and finished separately, after which the two parts of the vase were welded together, as in the previous piece. The cup is concave, with a thickened lip, part of the series of Roman silver vases that are circular, concave, with a thickened lip and a short foot. Inside, just below the lip, a circular line has been incised.
The ring finger has a base that is slightly slanted inward. In the middle, there is a recessed point, surrounded by a circular groove.
On the outside, just below the lip, there is a fluting, followed by a decoration consisting of two registers. The upper register, delineated by a beaded line at the top and bottom, contains elements that do not allow for determining a beginning or an end. Aquatic birds and trees, fish and woven baskets, juxtaposed without apparent logic, constitute a setting that seems to aim solely at aesthetic effect. If, in some cases, repetitions are noted, they are only justified by the exhaustion of the ornamental repertoire. We will start the description from one of the few elements that do not repeat, and then continue from left to right. The element in question is one of the fish, namely a predatory fish from the Carangidae family, specific to the Southern seas, which has just swallowed two aquatic birds (geese) whose heads are still visible. Following, almost without interruption, is the terminal part of a fishing instrument, a bird with a downward-pointing beak, a woven basket in a conical shape with an upper opening and a horizontal handle, and finally a second woven basket, conical with a flat bottom, from which the heads of two fish emerge; above the basket is depicted a small flying bird, perhaps a wild pigeon; the bottom of the basket is obscured by two fish similar to the previous ones that intertwine. Following, on a very small scale and with no relation to the theme described above, a cypress. The decoration also includes a conical basket with a rounded bottom and vertical handles, a braided strip (probably belonging to another fishing instrument), a bird seen from above, two more braided baskets (one conical with a rounded bottom and vertical handles, the other conical with a horizontal handle), a crab with its claws pointing downwards; a spherical basket with a horizontal handle and lid (for fishing?), topped with a herring. The decorative register continues with a bird 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 small cypress, another bird (a goose) holding a fish in its beak, turned to the left; another basket from which the heads of two herrings emerge and topped with two other herrings; below the basket is depicted a crab similar to the first and above the basket is a new wild pigeon in flight. Finally, yet another bird, a cormorant, topped with a spherical basket, completes this decorative register.
The decoration was created through engraving, incision, and punching.
The second register (lower) is formed by two pairs of sea monsters facing each other. The bodies of the four fantastic animals are identical: they are in the shape of a writhing serpent, covered in scales and with a forked tail. The heads, in exchange, represent two groups; antithetical, herbivore-raptor: bovine-griffon for one pair, gazelle-griffon for the other. If the bovine has its front feet ending in hooves, almost glued to the feline paws of the griffon, the hooves of the gazelle are at a certain distance from the paws of the other griffon; all the monsters have their legs stretched out as if to jump. The griffon opposed to the bovine has a bird of prey's beak, a short neck, separated from the body by a serrated crest; the bovine has small crescent-shaped horns, swept back, a thick and powerful neck. The gazelle has a thin and nervous neck, a fine head, and long horns pointing backward; the griffon facing it has a horn starting from the top of its head and extending long forward. Under these animals are schematically depicted waves, in the shape of inverted S's, like an arc or almost sinusoidal. This set was created using the same methods as the previous one.
