Fabric and technology
A pale creamy-yellow fine-textured fabric (7.5YR 7/6) with a smooth glossy yellow-orange or reddish-brown slip, variable in thickness. Wheel-thrown. Upon this is superimposed (in a darker slip) a blurred floral or star pattern, or a simpler marbled effect, hence the French name ‘sponged ware’.
Forms
Raimbault (1973) defines twelve principal types. Some are derived from late sigillata prototypes. A general affinity with other late Roman red-slipped traditions of eastern Gaul and Britain.
| Type | Form | Prototype |
|---|---|---|
| I | Shallow plate | |
| II | Hemispherical cup | |
| III | Hemispherical bowl | |
| IV | Hemispherical bowl | |
| V | Straight-sided bowl | Drag. 44/45 |
| VI | Flanged bowl | Drag. 38 |
| VII | Necked bowl | |
| VIII | Large beaker | Déch. 72 |
| IX | Small beaker | |
| X | Flagon | |
| XI | Pinch-mouthed flagon | |
| XII | Face-jug |
Table 1. Classification of la cramique l’ponge forms (after Raimbault)
The bowls (V-VII) and jug (X) are the commonest forms, and the most common in Britain.
Chronology
Production commenced in the early 3rd cent., but initially only for a local market. Wider distribution dates to the 4th cent., but production may continues until c. AD 450.
Source
Western France, perhaps near Civaux (Vienne) where there is a particularly wide range of forms and decorative types.
Distribution
Common in western France, between the Loire and Gironde and scatter of findspots in Brittany and Normandy (as far as the Seine), the Channel Islands and southern Britain.
Aliases
Caister-on-sea fabric EPON-32. Chelmsford fabric 22. Gloucester fabric TF12M. Kent fine fabric 6.
Bibliography
The original typology is Raimbault 1973; British finds listed by Fulford (1977, 45-7, Appendix 2) and the northern French and British distribution described in Galliou et al. 1980. Simon-Hiernard (1991) discusses source, dating and distribution.
References
Fulford 1977. Fulford, M. G., ‘Pottery and Britain’s foreign trade in the later Roman period’ in Pottery and early commerce. Characterization and trade in Roman and later ceramics, ed. D. P. S. Peacock, Academic Press, London, (1977), pp. 35-84.
Galliou et al. 1980. Galliou, P., Fulford, M. G. and Clement, M., ‘La diffusion de la céramique “à l’ponge” dans le Nord-Ouest de l’empire romain’, Gallia, 38, (1980), pp. 265-78.
Raimbault 1973. Raimbault, M., ‘La céramique gallo-romaine dite “à l’ponge” dans l’ouest de la France’, Gallia, 31, (1973), pp. 185-206.
Simon-Hiernard 1991. Simon-Hiernard, D., ‘Du nouveau sur la céramique à l’ponge’ in Actes du Congrès de Cognac, 8-11 mai 1991. Société Française d’tude de la Céramique Antique en Gaule., ed. L. Rivet, SFECAG, Marseille, (1991), pp. 61-76.
