Brazier

Latial “brazier” in a slightly unusual design. Handmade, hollow below, cylindrical with flaring, shallow cup-like top. The shape appears square in outline because of four applied handles (nearly round in section) at the rim. One handle is combined with a strut to support a small, shallow cup (broken) just below the level of the rim. Irregular door-like opening in lower body. Incised and impressed decoration: on handles and on applied bands on body, a corded pattern; on the body, combed rectilinear patterns including meander, zigzag with impressed dots, stylized seated couple (in lower panel). Fabric is Villanovan/Latian impasto, mottled dull grayish brown with tan to orange core, sandy with large quantity of fine mica particles and obsidian grits. Surfaces well burnished. Chipped, rim mended. Cylindrical “braziers,” probably incense or offering burners, occur in Roman and other Latial burials of the Iron Age/Villanovan period, although they are not as common as the biconical urns. The handcrafting techniques used for them ensure a unique combination of shape and ornament, here executed with a blunt pottery comb of ten teeth. The decoration is familiar from Villanovan urns.