File:A body sherd fragment from a Roman probably East Gaulish (Trier) samian ware mortarium Form Dragendorff 45 dating to the first half or middle of the 3rd century. (FindID 1016504).jpg

English: A body sherd fragment from a Roman probably East Gaulish (Trier) samian ware mortarium Form Dragendorff 45 dating to the first half or middle of the 3rd century. This is a fragment of a Drag. 45 mortarium with a nearly upright wall. A spout is located within the collar; it is a very stylised open-mouthed lion with oval ears. The spout is an applied oval boss with the pouring hole forming the open mouth. The fragment has a pink/orange fabric and is coated in a red slip on both the inside and outside which is heavily abraded with most of the slip worn away from the high points of the lion head spout.

Dimensions: length: 49.58mm; width: 42.71mm; thickness: 20.78mm; weight: 25.15g.

Other Drag. 45 mortarium lion spouts on the database are <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/658329">LON-A6D4FD</a>, <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/237022">LON-187598</a> and <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/236753">LON-02FE97</a>.

Bird (1993:8) writes "The mortarium Dr 45, introduced at Lezoux c AD 170, continued in manufacture during the 3rd century. Later examples have a more inturned upper wall, usually without grooves, but the most distinctive feature is the applied mask added to the spout. Lezoux's snarling lion had become, by the mid-3rd century, a rather indeterminate species, its ears often indicated by deep finger impressions which give it a bat-like appearance (Fig. 2). Such late spouts are recorded from Billingsgate, Swan Lane, London Walbrook, Shadwell, Ewell and Dorchester. The St Magnus House group is illustrated in Bird 1986a, nos. 2.214-218 (no. 2.217 is the type which occurs in the 'Massenfund' : Huld- Zetsche 1971b, typ 14)."

References: de la Bedoyere, G. 1988. Samian Ware. Shire Publications Ltd, Aylesbury.

Webster, P. 1996. Roman Samian Pottery in Britain. Practical Handbook in Archaeology 13. Council for British Archaeology, York.

Bird, J. 1986. Samian Wares. Miller, L., Schofield, J. and Rhodes, M. 1986. The Roman quay at St Magnus House, London. Excavations at New Fresh Wharf, Lower Thames Street, London 1974-78 London Middlesex Archaeol Soc Special Paper, 8. pp 178-185

Huld-Zetsche, I., 1971b. Zum Forschungsstand über Trierer Reliefsigillaten, TrZ, 34, (1971), pp. 233-45.

Bird, J. 1993. 3rd-century samian ware in Britain. Journal of Roman Pottery Studies 6, 1993, pp 1-14.