August 2022

I have been involved with the Romans one way or another for over 60 years, and when I finally visited Rome itself it was one of the great experiences of my life. It was like coming home. It is difficult to choose which of the things I saw on that visit made the greatest impression on me, but I think that the equestrian statue of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, in the Capitoline Museum, was very near the top. Not only is it a statue of my favourite emperor, but the lively pose of the horse is a beautiful piece of art.

Marcus Aurelius was born in 121CE and was emperor from 161 to 180CE, at first ruling jointly with his brother Lucius Verus until Verus’ death in 169CE. He succeeded his adoptive father, Antoninus Pius, and is often referred to as the last of the five “good emperors”. His reign was the last in a long period of peace and stability for the Roman Empire.

Marcus Aurelius had been deeply interested in philosophy since his childhood, adopting the Stoic ideal. In his later years he jotted down his private thoughts on various subjects, which survive today and are known as the “Meditations”. For the most part they are very gloomy, perhaps because of his solemn character and his poor health, but probably also because a long period of ‘pax Romana’ was ending, and the empire was entering a troubled period, with continuous war on both frontiers, invasions, civil disobedience, and outbreaks of a devastating pandemic. The ‘Antonine Plague’ also known as the ‘Plague of Galen’, is believed to have been either smallpox or measles, spread by soldiers returning from war in the Middle East.

The larger-than-life-size statue of the emperor on horseback is made of gilded bronze. Its date is not certain; it probably dates from early in his reign, to honour a victory, but possibly from just after his death. He is shown without armour or weapons to signify his peaceful role, his right hand is outstretched and his left hand may have originally held just the reins, or an object such as a globe surmounted by a figure of the goddess of Victory. He rides without stirrups, not yet in use in the western world, but with a fringed Sarmatian saddle cloth, possibly a reference to victory over the Sarmatians.

It is suggested that the statue survived when so many other masterpieces of Roman art were melted down to re-use the metal because it was believed for many years to show the Christian emperor Constantine. It is now in the Capitoline Museum, on the Capitoline Hill. A replica stands outside in the courtyard and the statue itself is preserved inside.

This drawing of a fish is based on the decoration of a 9th century CE Chinese bowl. One of the places I enjoyed visiting most on my holiday in Singapore in 2017 was the Asian Civilisations Museum, and the exhibit I enjoyed most was the Tang shipwreck, also known as the Belitung shipwreck.

The stoneware bowl with the fish decoration was found on the wreck of an Arab dhow, discovered by fishermen in 1998 off the shores of Sumatra at Belitung Island. It was dated to the 9^th century CE by radiocarbon dating of star anise preserved on the wreck, and by a bowl inscribed with a date which is equivalent to 826CE. The dhow was on the return journey from Canton in China to the Middle East, carrying luxury goods which included over 60,000 ceramic objects. The majority of the cargo was hand-painted stoneware bowls, made at Changsha in Hunan Province, packed for the journey inside large jars or straw bundles.  

China’s Tang Dynasty is dated between 618-907 CE. It is regarded as having been a golden age, when China was well-governed, prosperous and cosmopolitan, and poetry and art flourished. Foreign trade expanded, with merchants from all over the Near and Far East coming to China, overland by the Silk Road, but also by sea, including the long-distance export of mass-produced ceramics.

The Chinese character for “fish” is a homophone for prosperity or abundance, so fish are considered to be lucky. The arowana or dragon fish is considered to be particularly auspicious. I have been unable to access any detailed information or images on the subject, but perhaps this fish, which has a dragon-like appearance, was painted onto the bowl as a good-luck symbol. I shall continue my researches!

I particularly loved this perky little fish as an attractive piece of art. But I was also stunned to think that at the time when the 9^th century Saxons were making handmade, low-fired, grass-tempered pottery in Southern England, and the 9^th century Viking occupants of Orkney were mostly not making pottery at all, on the other side of the world people were making wheel-thrown, high-fired stonewares with coloured decoration!