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Esquiline Treasure
The Esquiline Treasure is an ancient Roman silver treasure that was found in 1793 on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The hoard is considered an important example of late antique silver work from the 4th century AD, probably about 380 for the major pieces. Since 1866, 57 objects, representing the great majority of the treasure, have been in the British Museum.
Two of the most important objects in the treasure are the ornate silver-gilt engraved boxes known as the Projecta Casket and the Muse Casket. The treasure was part of the belongings of a wealthy Roman household of high social status, which can probably be identified. The collection includes 8 plates (4 circular and 4 rectangular), a fluted dish, a ewer inscribed for "Pelegrina", a flask with embossed scenes, an amphora, 6 sets of horse trappings, with furniture fittings including 4 Tyche figures representing the 4 main cities of the Roman Empire: Rome, Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria, two hands clenching bannisters, and an assortment of jewellery.
Although a number of large late Roman hoards have been discovered, most are from the fringes of the empire (such as Roman Britain), and very few objects from the period can be presumed to have been made by silversmiths in Rome itself, giving the Esquiline Treasure a "special significance". This major hoard is displayed in room 41 of the British Museum alongside the Carthage Treasure and near the British finds of the Mildenhall Treasure, Hoxne Hoard, Water Newton Treasure and the Corbridge Lanx. It has been observed that the majority of the major surviving late Roman silver hoards are in the British Museum.
In the summer of 1793 workers encountered a large collection of silver objects during excavation work at the foot of the Esquiline Hill in Rome, which had been the area favoured by the Roman aristocracy for their houses throughout the Roman period. These items were found in the ruins of a Roman building, which was at that time in the premises of the monastery of San Francesco di Paola in Rome. The first official record of the finds was made one year after their discovery by the famous Italian classical archaeologist and later head of the Capitoline Museum Ennio Quirino Visconti.
The treasure passed through many hands before eventually being acquired by the French collector and one-time ambassador to Rome the Duc de Blacas. In 1866 his collection was sold in its entirety to the British Museum. However, two other items in the treasure can be found in the Musee du Petit Palais in Paris (a highly decorated trulla or saucepan), and the Museo Nazionale in Naples (a jug in the form of a woman's head).
The four silver Tyches (which were iconic versions of a presiding tutelary deity of Classical Greek mythology governing the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny) are represented with different attributes: military attire for the Tyche of Rome, a cornucopia for the one of Constantinople, sheaves of corns and the bow of a ship for the Tyche of Alexandria, and a male swimmer personifying the Orontes River at the feet of the Tyche of Antioch.
The so-called Projecta Casket (M&ME 1866,12–29,1) is one of the most famous and magnificent examples of silver craftsmanship from late antiquity in Rome. It is partially gilded to highlight some areas, and was made by the repoussé technique – that is the ornamented relief was achieved by means of pressing or pushing back the metal surface. The box is 55.9 cm long, 28.6 cm high and 43.2 cm wide and has a weight of 8.2 kg. The base of the box has swinging handles at each end.
The five panels on the lid of the box represent three mythological scenes, a double portrait and a bathing scene. On the top panel of the lid are half-length figures of a man and woman within a wreath held by standing erotes (or putti in modern terms) and an inscription which reads: "SECVNDE ET PROIECTA VIVATIS IN CHRI[STO] ('Secundus and Projecta, may you live in Christ'). The attire of the two figures is clearly that of an affluent couple from late antiquity. The woman is wearing a long-sleeved tunic with a large necklace. In her hands she holds a papyrus roll. The man is in a long-sleeved tunic that he wears under a chlamys.
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Esquiline Treasure
The Esquiline Treasure is an ancient Roman silver treasure that was found in 1793 on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The hoard is considered an important example of late antique silver work from the 4th century AD, probably about 380 for the major pieces. Since 1866, 57 objects, representing the great majority of the treasure, have been in the British Museum.
Two of the most important objects in the treasure are the ornate silver-gilt engraved boxes known as the Projecta Casket and the Muse Casket. The treasure was part of the belongings of a wealthy Roman household of high social status, which can probably be identified. The collection includes 8 plates (4 circular and 4 rectangular), a fluted dish, a ewer inscribed for "Pelegrina", a flask with embossed scenes, an amphora, 6 sets of horse trappings, with furniture fittings including 4 Tyche figures representing the 4 main cities of the Roman Empire: Rome, Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria, two hands clenching bannisters, and an assortment of jewellery.
Although a number of large late Roman hoards have been discovered, most are from the fringes of the empire (such as Roman Britain), and very few objects from the period can be presumed to have been made by silversmiths in Rome itself, giving the Esquiline Treasure a "special significance". This major hoard is displayed in room 41 of the British Museum alongside the Carthage Treasure and near the British finds of the Mildenhall Treasure, Hoxne Hoard, Water Newton Treasure and the Corbridge Lanx. It has been observed that the majority of the major surviving late Roman silver hoards are in the British Museum.
In the summer of 1793 workers encountered a large collection of silver objects during excavation work at the foot of the Esquiline Hill in Rome, which had been the area favoured by the Roman aristocracy for their houses throughout the Roman period. These items were found in the ruins of a Roman building, which was at that time in the premises of the monastery of San Francesco di Paola in Rome. The first official record of the finds was made one year after their discovery by the famous Italian classical archaeologist and later head of the Capitoline Museum Ennio Quirino Visconti.
The treasure passed through many hands before eventually being acquired by the French collector and one-time ambassador to Rome the Duc de Blacas. In 1866 his collection was sold in its entirety to the British Museum. However, two other items in the treasure can be found in the Musee du Petit Palais in Paris (a highly decorated trulla or saucepan), and the Museo Nazionale in Naples (a jug in the form of a woman's head).
The four silver Tyches (which were iconic versions of a presiding tutelary deity of Classical Greek mythology governing the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny) are represented with different attributes: military attire for the Tyche of Rome, a cornucopia for the one of Constantinople, sheaves of corns and the bow of a ship for the Tyche of Alexandria, and a male swimmer personifying the Orontes River at the feet of the Tyche of Antioch.
The so-called Projecta Casket (M&ME 1866,12–29,1) is one of the most famous and magnificent examples of silver craftsmanship from late antiquity in Rome. It is partially gilded to highlight some areas, and was made by the repoussé technique – that is the ornamented relief was achieved by means of pressing or pushing back the metal surface. The box is 55.9 cm long, 28.6 cm high and 43.2 cm wide and has a weight of 8.2 kg. The base of the box has swinging handles at each end.
The five panels on the lid of the box represent three mythological scenes, a double portrait and a bathing scene. On the top panel of the lid are half-length figures of a man and woman within a wreath held by standing erotes (or putti in modern terms) and an inscription which reads: "SECVNDE ET PROIECTA VIVATIS IN CHRI[STO] ('Secundus and Projecta, may you live in Christ'). The attire of the two figures is clearly that of an affluent couple from late antiquity. The woman is wearing a long-sleeved tunic with a large necklace. In her hands she holds a papyrus roll. The man is in a long-sleeved tunic that he wears under a chlamys.