Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 2262. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Antiquities] ROMAN. Bronze ink pot. Circa 1st-2nd century AD. Height 68mm, diameter 50mm. Spun bronze traveling ink pot having a hinged lid with slide locking mechanism. Flat top is decorated with finely inlaid design of endless waves and twining grape vines. Most of the surface preserves the original tinning. Very thin, fragile metal, a small fragment broken out of the side but still inside the pot. Hinge of lid is lacking. A few scattered spots of verdigris, otherwise in choice condition. A rare, high quality Roman domestic utensil. ($1000)

Ancient ink (atramentum) took many forms, including one similar to our modern India ink, made from carbon (soot) bound with some form of resin. Others were made from the ink of cuttlefish (sepia), while Pliny notes the manufacture of ink from the dregs of wine. Thus the grape vine may be a decoration, and may also indicate the nature of the contents.