Form for arretine pottery with relief

The Greeks already knew relief decorated ceramics in archaic times. During the time of Hellenism and the Roman Imperial Age, certain classes of ceramics were very popular, which were produced by way of stamps or negative moulds, such as terra sigillata. Amongstothers, erotic motifs occur – and they seem to be especially prone to being faked, as thermoluminescence analyses of the Berlin stamp and the mould have shown, which allegedly came from the workshops of Arezzo. However, the form of a vessel’s bottom from Pergamon and the flat jug (lagynos) are authentic. Lagynoi are predominantly connected with the cult of Dionysus.