ABSTRACT
In the imagination of Northern Europeans, classical antiquity was located not only at a temporal but often also a geographical remove. Evidence for this mindset appears in an unusual mounted vessel that has resided in a German noble collection since the sixteenth century (Figure 5.4.1). 1 A simple cup or bowl of red earthenware with steeply angled sides has been raised onto a gilded silver foot that bears a lengthy inscription in German: Terra sigillata cup with gilt-silver mount by Georg Kobenhaupt, c. 1572, including inset Roman coin. 10.6 cm × 10.1 cm. © Hessische Hausstiftung, Kronberg im Taunus. A red earthenware cup on a gilt-silver mount including a Roman silver coin. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003294986/074a29b9-c2c7-42d8-b373-19eb7f8a64d8/content/fig5_4_1.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
After I was made from earth in the reign of the peace-loving emperor Antoninus Pius, I was brought to Rheinzabern. In 1572 I was then found with his coin in the earth and bequeathed by Isack Wicker to the noble lord Philipp the Elder, Count of Hanau and Lord of Lichtenberg, undamaged through 1432 years. 2
