Two-part food warmer made of a low double-walled... Lot 11

Two-part food warmer made of a low double-walled cylinder, connected by a short shaft to a high cylinder with a lid, into which a vessel with liquid or food could be inserted and heated from below by the connecting shaft. Extremely rare and well-preserved multifunctional kitchen utensil from early Roman times. Some good, mostly less complex comparative pieces come from high-status households in the Roman cities of Vesuvius. The individual components: 1) Double-walled cylinder with a central, vertically running, open tube, partially covered at the top by a "grill" of three hollow, horizontally running sheet metal cylinders. The wide "bottom ring" of the double-walled cylinder is reinforced at the bottom with an alloy of white metal. The inner wall at the bottom is drawn in towards the open tube and slightly tapered towards the top, the three horizontal sheet metal cylinders are inserted at the top. The outer wall runs straight and is covered at the top by a wide, faceted sheet metal bead that closes off the outer and inner walls. On the top of the bead three fully sculpted bird sculptures. On the outside, opposite the connecting shaft to the tall cylinder, an elaborately worked, fully plastic handle, which has an identical counterpart on the opposite side of the tall cylinder. Height of the double-walled cylinder without the bird sculptures 20 cm, with the birds ca. 28 cm. Diameter 25.5 cm. 2) Connection shaft with rectangular cross-section connecting the two cylinders through openings in the cylinders corresponding in size to the cross-section. Length on the outer sides 12 cm. Height 13 cm. 3) Tall sheet metal cylinder which can be closed at the top by a slightly curved lid with a handle on the principle of a modern beer mug. The upper rim closed by a solid cast ring with a Lesbian Kymation on the outside, handle and lid attached to it. Horizontal turning grooves on the wall. Towards the bottom the cylinder is profiled by a narrow upper and a wide lower bead, the bottom made of slightly outwardly curved sheet metal. Height of the cylinder with handle ca. 47 cm. Diameter 20 cm. 4) Feet: The entire construction is supported at the bottom by three solid cast feet with a horizontal bar on the inside. Two diagonally outwardly whitening on the high cylinder, one on the outside of the double-walled cylinder. All feet of the same design: Above a drum-shaped, profiled and centrally indented base a predatory cat's foot, after a florally designed transition in the center followed by a slightly forwardly curved upper body of an eros with boy's hairdo and wings. Face and anatomical details finely worked out. Height of the feet ca. 30 cm. 5) Handles: The solid cast handles on the two long sides are of high artistic quality and offer the viewer a conundrum. On the one hand, the components can be seen as purely floral ornamentation with leaves, tendrils and fruits. At the same time, however, the arrangement of tendrils and leaves allows an interpretation as a mask-like grimace of vegetal elements, similar to a painting by Arcimboldo. Another reading fully in line with contemporary antique art would be a phallic symbol formed by the two fruits and the central long leaf. With these handles the whole apparatus could be carried and moved to the desired place. 6) Three bird sculptures: The fully sculpted birds can probably be interpreted quite reliably as geese on the basis of the design of the feet, plumage, neck and beak. 7) A conical cover made of sheet bronze could be placed over the grill, reminiscent of the lid of a simple, double-walled authepsa from Pompeii and placed over its central, open tube. Simple authepsae with only one high cylinder on three feet are also known from Pompeii, whose construction otherwise corresponds to the high cylinder present here. A vessel with water or food could be inserted into these authepsae from above, which was held in place by a ledge on the upper edge and heated from below by coals. In the place of the opening to the shaft, these authepsae had a door for filling in coal or emptying ash. The use of such a vessel would also have been conceivable in the present device. The solid upper rim ring has a bar projecting inwards all around on the inside, which can hold an inserted vessel. A complex authepsa from Stabiae is a good comparison for the entire construction. Here, too, the apparatus consists of a tall cylinder with a lid, a similar connecting shaft and a double-walled cylinder, which is, however, interrupted on one side and allows one to look into the open interior. This interrupted cylinder is also crowned at the top by bird sculptures. In this case, however, the very similar construction is integrated into a rectangular "ash container" as a base, which has four feet on the outer sides. Heating was provided by glowing coals in the open interior of the double-walled cylinder. On the outer wall of the double-walled cylinder there is also a "tap" from which hot water could be drained.