Roman Wall Painting with a Large Red Vessel in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sept. 2007

Wall painting with a large red vessel and a silver oinochoe (jug)
Roman, Late Republican, ca. 50-40 BC
From the villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, peristyle (E)

Accession # 03.14.3

Like the wall paintings with a column capital and a globe exhibited on this wall to the right, this piece comes from the peristyle of the villa. It was located on the north wall between rooms N and O. Two metal vessels stand on marble blocks, and a tall palm branch rests diagonally against the background. The large vase is probably bronze. The distinctive red color of the metal may have resulted from a special alloy. The Roman author Pliny the Elder described varieties in hue obtained in the famous bronzes produced in Corinth, making clear that craftsmen had a sophisticated knowledge of alloys and could arrive at many color variations.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.