Pan (detail)

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This is a detail of the enamelled decoration on the handle of a bronze pan, of a type known as a patera, found at Linlithgow in West Lothian. It is an unusual example, with the form and decoration of the pan Roman, but the use of enamel distinctly native.

Technically, the technique used is not true enamel, since the hollows cut in the metal were filled with coloured glass and not fused with the bronzework. The enamel here has been restored.

The use of enamel decoration was popular among native people in Scotland and northern Britain for prestigious objects, and was even adopted for some Roman objects such as this one. The glass used was recycled from imported objects or scrap material.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-036-141-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.FA 43
• Date: Between 80 and 180 AD
  
• Material: Bronze; ornamented with champleve enamel in red, blue, and green
  Patera
  
• Dimensions: 4.75" D; handle 3.63" L
  
• What: Patera
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, West Lothian, Linlithgow
  
• Event:
• Description: Bronze patera ornamented with champleve enamel in red, blue and green, possibly a native votive deposit, from Linlithgow, West Lothian
  
• References:
  • Clarke, D.V., Breeze, D.J., and Mackay, G. The Romans in Scotland. An introduction to the collections of the National Museums of Antiquities of Scotland. Edinburgh: National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, 1980, p 44. 
• Translations:
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