Materials

Partly processed raw material
(Crypta Balbi, 7th century AD)

         The Crypta Balbi represents an extraordinary piece of archeological evidence regarding the development of craft activities and workshops in Byzantine Rome. As a matter of fact, its exedra, after being a structural part of the so-called Balbi’s theater, it was soon converted first into a latrine, and then used for many years as a dumping deposit. Therefore, excavations have been able to recover various materials of not only luxury items of clothing, but also household equipment that were exported both to the barbaric West and the Mediterranean areas. For instance, the exhibit shows more than 10,000 glass fragments, fusion debris, mosaic tesserae, and poorly fired vessels, which were found in this site, and were half-worked or meant to be reused. They also tend to follow some forms typical of 7^th century hand-crafted production, such as drinking cups, bottles, and lamps, whose peculiarity lies in their polychromatic filaments, minuscule phials, appliqués and disks with monograms.



Partly processed raw material
(Crypta Balbi, 7th century AD)

 

 Moreover, there is proof of decorative elements used for furniture or for walls of ecclesial buildings, including sheets of colored window glass cut in different shapes. In this way, they clearly give testimony of the presence of a capillary and copious activity of workshops in this urban area.    

         
          A significant section of the museum is devoted to the evolution of Roman pottery techniques, styles, and means, throughout the ages. Between the end of the 8^th century and the beginning of the 9^th century, the exedra of the Crypta Balbi was turned into a lime kiln, and accordingly the production of lime increased notably in the whole site. Afterwards, between the 11^th and the 12^th centuries, because of a strong demand from an ever-growing population, utilitarian pottery was characterized by the standardization of formal ancient traits and the repetitiveness of vessels patterns. What is more interesting is that three different kinds of workshops existed at this time in Rome. They usually worked as many different kinds of products.



Pantry and Kitchen Pottery
Crypta Balbi, 11th/14h centuries

 

          For instance, Roman workshops specialized in tableware, while producing also early medieval simple and undecorated glazed items, made with a refined clay mix, which contained little amounts of glaze. In addition, vessels for individual consumption, such as glasses, bowls, and shapes, were made of metal, wood, or glass.  In addition, during the 14^th century, as long as the city became more prosperous, pottery experienced a new decorative element, the so called Archaic Majolica, which was actually invented in central Italy in the 13^th century, but was soon employed all around the country in specific variations. However, its main features were copper green or blue painting and manganese brown on enamel, while the decorations were usually varied, including vegetation, human, animal, and heraldic motifs, but also abstractions. 

An example of Archaic Majolica
Crypta Balbi, 13th/14th centuries

An example of Archaic Majolica (sketch)

(Sources mainly from museum labels and didactic documentation on site)




Maria Plateo