| Chaourse Treasure | |
|---|---|
 Chaourse Treasure as displayed in the British Museum | |
| Material | Silver |
| Created | 2nd-3rd century AD |
| Present location | British Museum, London |
The Chaourse Treasure is a hoard of Roman silver found in Chaourse, a village near Montcornet, Aisne in northern France in 1883. Dating between the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the treasure is one of the most complete table services to survive from antiquity. This important hoard is now part of the British Museum's collection. [1]
The hoard was uncovered by chance in a field near the village of Chaourse and had been deposited wrapped in cloth. Coins were also found with the treasure, the latest dating from the Gallic emperor Postumus. It appears that tableware was buried shortly afterwards, during the reign of Gallienus, although the context of the find remains obscure. While a few of the objects date to the 2nd century, most originate from the 3rd century AD. The names of two people - Genialis and Cavarianus - are inscribed on some silver vessels. They were probably the original owners of the service, who decided to bury the hoard for safe-keeping. Six years after its discovery, the entire treasure was purchased by the British Museum.
The Chaourse Treasure is made up of 39 objects in total, all of which are silver, apart from five small vessels and a silvered bronze mirror. There are four large serving platters; one of which has the swastika in its central medallion, another has a gilded figure of the Roman god Mercury holding his caduceus flanked by a ram and a cockerel. In addition, there are plain silver drinking cups, various jugs, two large situlas one of which has an acanthus-scroll frieze, shallow plates, hemispherical bowls (one of which was used for washing hands), flanged and fluted bowls (some with engraved decoration of animals amid floral patterns), some mirrors, an ornate strainer with floral and geometric designs, a statuette of the deity Fortuna and a pepper-pot in the shape of an African slave-boy.
The Mildenhall Treasure is a large hoard of 34 masterpieces of Roman silver tableware from the fourth century AD, and by far the most valuable Roman objects artistically and by weight of bullion in Britain. It was found at West Row, near Mildenhall, Suffolk, in 1942. It consists of over thirty items and includes the Great Dish which weighs over 8 kg (18 lb).
Tableware is any dish or dishware used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. It includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes, and other items for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of objects varies according to culture, religion, number of diners, cuisine and occasion. For example, Middle Eastern, Indian or Polynesian food culture and cuisine sometimes limits tableware to serving dishes, using bread or leaves as individual plates, and not infrequently without use of cutlery. Special occasions are usually reflected in higher quality tableware.
The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of fourth-century Roman silver, discovered near the location of the Roman town of Durobrivae at Water Newton in the English county of Cambridgeshire in 1975. The hoard consisted of 27 silver items and one small gold plaque. Because of inscriptions found on some of the pieces in the collection it has been suggested that they may have been used in a local church, and they therefore comprise the earliest probable group of Christian liturgical silver yet found in the Roman Empire.
The Berthouville treasure is a hoard of Roman silver uncovered by ploughing in March 1830 at the hamlet of Villeret in the commune of Berthouville in the Eure département of Normandy, northern France. Purchased at the time of discovery for a modest 15,000 francs, the treasure is conserved in the Cabinet des Médailles at the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris.
The Hoxne hoard pepper pot, commonly known as the Empress pepper pot, although it now seems not to represent an empress, is a silver piperatorium, partially gilded, dating from around 400 AD. It was found as part of the Hoxne Hoard in Hoxne, Suffolk, in November 1992, and is now in the British Museum, where it is normally on display. It is a hollow silver statuette of the top half of a woman's body, with a mechanism to allow ground pepper or spices to be loaded into its base and then shaken out. The mechanism does not grind the pepper and has a rotatable disc with three positions. One position allows filling, another has fine holes to allow ground pepper out and another allows the pot to be closed. The pot was chosen as part of the 2010 BBC Radio 4 series, A History of the World in 100 Objects, as item 40.
The Mâcon Treasure or Macon Treasure is the name of a Roman silver hoard found in the city of Mâcon, eastern France in 1764. Soon after its discovery, the bulk of the treasure disappeared, with only 8 silver statuettes and a silver plate identified as being part of the original find. All of these objects are now in the British Museum
The Arcisate Treasure is a Roman silver hoard found in the town of Arcisate, northern Italy. Soon after its discovery in 1900, the treasure was acquired by the British Museum According to scholars, the treasure's significance is due to the completeness of the set, the high quality of the craftsmanship and materials used to make it, as well as the hoard's excellent state of preservation.
The Caubiac Treasure is a Roman silver hoard found in the village of Thil, southern France in 1785 that is now kept in the British Museum in London.
The Chatuzange Treasure is the name of an important Roman silver hoard found in the village of Chatuzange-le-Goubet in the department of Drôme, south-eastern France. Since 1893 it has been part of the British Museum's collection.
The Carthage Treasure is a Roman silver hoard, which was found in Tunis, Tunisia, at the site of the ancient city of Carthage. The treasure principally consists of silver tableware and jewellery, most of which is now held at the British Museum.
The Lampsacus Treasure or Lapseki Treasure is the name of an important early Byzantine silver hoard found near the town of Lapseki in modern-day Turkey. Most of the hoard is now in the British Museum's collection, although a few items can be found in museums in Paris and Istanbul too.
The Beaurains Treasure is the name of an important Roman hoard found in Beaurains, a suburb of the city of Arras, northern France in 1922. Soon after its discovery, much of the treasure was dispersed, to be sold on the antiquities market. The largest portion of the hoard can be found in the local museum in Arras and in the British Museum.
The Paramythia Hoard or Paramythia Treasure is the name of a Greco-Roman hoard of bronze figurines and other objects found in Paramythia, north-west Greece in the late 18th century. Of the original nineteen objects found in the hoard, fourteen are now in the British Museum
The Capheaton Treasure is an important Roman silver hoard found in the village of Capheaton in Northumberland, north-east England. Since 1824, it has been part of the British Museum's collection.
The Boscoreale Treasure is a large collection of exquisite silver and gold Roman objects discovered in the ruins of the ancient Villa della Pisanella at Boscoreale, near Pompeii, southern Italy. Consisting of over a hundred pieces of silverware, as well as gold coins and jewellery, it is now mostly kept at the Louvre Museum in Paris, although parts of the treasure can also be found at the British Museum.
The Knaresborough Hoard is a hoard of Romano-British metalwork from near Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. It is the largest hoard of Romano-British copper-alloy vessels discovered to date in Britain. A partial catalogue of the hoard was published by Eggers in 1966. Between 2019 and 2021 it was studied as part of the Knaresborough and Irchester Roman Hoards Project (KNIROH) at Newcastle University.
The Traprain Law treasure is a hoard of late Roman hacksilver, found on the hillfort of Traprain Law during excavations in 1919. It is the largest hoard of Roman hacksilver currently known, weighing just over 23 kg. It consists mostly of Roman silver vessels, a few of which are complete but most of which had been cut into fragments or crushed. There are a few items of personal equipment and coins. The hoard was probably buried in the early fifth century AD. Early interpretations saw it as loot; more recent views prefer to see it as diplomatic gifts or payment for military service. It is currently on display in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.