Small Plate With Projecting Rim: Rome Or Etruria.

Fragments of rim missing.

Angular ring foot; beveled resting surface; flat underside. Broad, projecting rim, curving down at edge and undercut on inside. Three concentric circles on floor: four palmettes, radially placed, within inner two circles; rouletting within outer circles. Fine, slightly micaceous, light red fabric (2.5YR 6/6); very shiny black glaze.

For plates of similar size and shape see Morel 1965, no. 127, pp. 72--73, pls. 10, 47; Morel 1969, p. 84, fig. 14 = Morel 1981, Type 1323b, p. 106, pl. 14 (dated by Morel between 305 and 265), from the workshop of the Petites Estampilles, an atelier perhaps located in Rome and dating from the late 4th to the mid-3rd century. The decoration on 1643, however, is not typical of this workshop, which favors parallel rather than radiating stamps. The general scheme of the decoration (circle/radiating palmettes/rouletting) may be found on a number of pieces from central and northern Italy: e.g.

Morel 1963, pp. 48--49, figs. 2, 3 (Arezzo); Taylor 1957, C 26b, p. 113, pl. IX (Campana B); Morel 1965, nos. 24, 131, 346, 352, 433, 489, pls. 3, 12, 24, 25, 30, 33 (Campana B and other Etruscan wares).