Casgliadau Arlein

Jug handle, originally fitted with a hinged lid. The handle terminates at the lower end in a plain, elegant leaf shaped escutcheon. The handle itself is graceful in shape and rises in a curve above the line of the neck of the vessel. Two short arms projected at the rim to grip the neck of the vessel; only one of these now remains and it bears traces of silvering. The angle of the handle can be determined by the position of the arms and that, together with the marked internal curve in the profile of the escutcheon, suggests that the jug had a slender neck with a sharply carinated body. A number of isolated jug handles with hinged lids and short arms are discussed by Boesterd though none of these examples has the overall shape of the Usk piece. Separately cast handles fitted with hinged lids and thumb levers were used on a series of jugs of provincial manufacture of second and third century date, known for example, from Colchester and illustrated and discussed by Boesterd and Tassinari. The overall shape of such vessels, with their bulbous bodies and slender necks, would fit with the implied profile of the Usk vessel but jugs of this series have theier handles terminating at the upper end in a broad ring which encloses the neck of the jug and also forms the spout, whereas the Usk handle was equipped only with short arms at the neck. Moreover the profile of the Usk handle bears closer comparison with those of certain jugs of South Italian manufacture than those of the provinical series; the upward sweep fo the handle from the rim and the flowing curve of the main section can be compared with those elegant vessels with handles frequently terminating in an animal protome above the rim. But the Usk handle does not belong to this series as it lacks a protome and is equipped with a hinged lid. An intermediate form of jug, closer in shape to the provincial series than to the protoma jugs but retaining the elegance of the lattter is evidenced by two such jugs from Cas dei Capitelli Figurati at Pompeii. Both jugs have spouted necks, one has a handle with short arms which rest on the rim of the vessel, the other one with short arms which grip the neck below the im, and a hinged lid. The implied profile of the jug and the known profile of the handle suggest that the Usk handle came from a vessel similar to these. Certainly it was recovered from a Fortress period context and is to be seen as an item of fine tableware belonging to a member of the garrison.