Editing Terra sigillata (section)

==Roman red gloss pottery==
[[File:201005151401 NE CSM Aretinische TS.jpg|thumb|260px|A decorated Arretine vase (Form Dragendorff 11) found at Neuss, Germany]]
In archaeological usage, the term ''terra sigillata'' without further qualification normally denotes the Arretine ware of Italy, made at [[Arezzo]], and Gaulish samian ware manufactured first in South [[Gaul]], particularly at [[La Graufesenque]], near [[Millau]], and later at [[Lezoux]] and adjacent sites near [[Clermont-Ferrand]], and at east Gaulish sites such as [[Trier]], Sinzig and [[Rheinzabern]].  These high-quality tablewares were particularly popular and widespread in the Western Roman Empire from about 50 BC to the early 3rd century AD.<ref>King 1983, p.253 (definition) and pp. 183–186.</ref><ref>Roberts, Paul, "Mass-production of Roman Finewares", in Freestone, Ian & [[David Gaimster|Gaimster, David]], (eds.) ''Pottery in the Making: World Ceramic Traditions'', London, 1997, pp. 188–193</ref>  Definitions of 'TS' have grown up from the earliest days of antiquarian studies, and are far from consistent; one survey of Classical art says:

<blockquote>''Terra sigillata'' ... is a Latin term used by modern scholars to designate a class of decorated red-gloss pottery .... not all red-gloss ware was decorated, and hence the more inclusive term 'Samian ware' is sometimes used to characterize all varieties of it.<ref>Boardman, pp. 276-77</ref>
</blockquote>

Whereas Anthony King's definition, following the more usual practice among Roman pottery specialists, makes no mention of decoration, but states that terra sigillata is 'alternatively known as samian ware'.  However, 'samian ware' is normally used only to refer to the sub-class of terra sigillata made in ancient Gaul. In European languages other than English, terra sigillata, or a translation (e.g. ''terre sigillée''), is always used for both Italian and Gaulish products.<ref>King 1983, p.253. See also the [https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/r/roman_pottery_terra_sigillata.aspx British Museum]</ref>{{efn|The meaning and etymology of 'samian ware' is a somewhat complex matter, fully addressed in King 1980.  There is ancient authority for the use of  ''samia vasa'' to describe pottery with a polished surface in literary usage (Pliny, ''Nat. Hist.'' 35, 160), and the verb ''samiare'', 'to polish' is probably connected.  However, it would be unwise to exclude all possible historical associations with the island of [[Samos]], though of course the pottery known as samian ware to present-day archaeologists has nothing to do with that region.  The modern parallel of the English term 'china' may be an apt one:  'china' refers to a class of ceramic that no longer has any direct connection with the country, China, but it was originally developed as part of the European attempts to imitate imported [[Chinese porcelain]] in the 18th century.  The parallel with 'china' is the reason why the late Professor Eric Birley favoured the use of a lower-case initial for 'samian'. (Birley ''pers.comm'', 1960s, and see also Stanfield and Simpson 1958, p.xxxi, footnote 1).}}  Nomenclature has to be established at an early stage of research into a subject, and antiquarians of the 18th and 19th centuries often used terms that we would not choose today, but as long as their meaning is clear and well-established, this does not matter, and detailed study of the history of the terminology is really a side-issue that is of academic interest only.  Scholars writing in English now often use "red gloss wares" or "red slip wares", both to avoid these issues of definition,<ref>As both King and Boardman do in their main texts.</ref>  and also because many other wares of the Roman period share aspects of technique with the traditional sigillata fabrics.
[[File:Roman pottery samian form Dr 29 edit.jpg|thumb|Profile drawing of form Dragendorff 29. 1st century AD.]]

Italian and Gaulish TS vessels were made in standardised shapes constituting services of matching dishes, bowls and serving vessels.  These changed and evolved over time, and have been very minutely classified; the first major scheme, by the German classical archaeologist [[Hans Dragendorff]] (1895), is still in use (as e.g. "Dr.29"),<ref>Dragendorff 1895.</ref> and there have been many others, such as the classifications of Déchelette, Knorr, Hermet, Walters, Curle, Loeschcke, Ritterling, Hermet and Ludowici, and more recently, the ''Conspectus'' of Arretine forms and Hayes's type-series of African Red Slip and Eastern sigillatas.<ref>Oswald & Pryce 1920 covers the main typologies of the early 20th century. Ettlinger 1990 is the current reference system for Arretine, and Hayes 1972 and 1980 for the late Roman material.</ref>  These reference sometimes make it possible to date the manufacture of a broken decorated sherd to within 20 years or less.

Most of the forms that were decorated with figures in low relief were thrown in pottery moulds, the inner surfaces of which had been decorated using fired-clay stamps or punches (usually referred to as ''poinçons'') and some free-hand work using a [[stylus]].  The mould was therefore decorated on its interior surface with a full decorative design of impressed, intaglio (hollowed) motifs that would appear in low relief on any bowl formed in it.  As the bowl dried, the shrinkage was sufficient for it to be withdrawn from the mould, in order to carry out any finishing work, which might include the addition of foot-rings, the shaping and finishing of rims, and in all cases the application of the slip.  [[Barbotine]] and [[appliqué]] ('sprigged') techniques were sometimes used to decorate vessels of closed forms.{{|Closed forms: shapes such as vases and [[flagon]]s/jugs that cannot be made in a single mould because they have a swelling profile that tapers inwards from the point of greatest diameter. Some large flagons were made at La Graufesenque by making the lower and upper bowl-shaped portions in moulds, and then joining these and adding the neck.  Obviously the open forms, namely bowls that could be formed in, and extracted from, a single mould, were quicker and simpler to make.}}   Study of the characteristic decorative [[motif (visual arts)|motif]]s, combined in some cases with name-stamps of workshops incorporated into the decoration, and also sometimes with the [[cursive]] signatures of mouldmakers, makes it possible to build up a very detailed knowledge of the industry.  Careful observation of form and fabric is therefore usually enough for an archaeologist experienced in the study of sigillata to date and identify a broken [[sherd]]:  a potter's stamp or moulded decoration provides even more precise evidence. The classic guide by [[Felix Oswald (archaeologist)|Oswald]] and Pryce, published in 1920<ref>Oswald, Felix & Pryce, T.D., ''An Introduction to the Study of terra sigillata'', London, 1920</ref> set out many of the principles, but the literature on the subject goes back into the 19th century, and is now extremely voluminous, including many monographs on specific regions, as well as excavation reports on important sites that have produced significant assemblages of sigillata wares, and articles in learned journals, some of which are dedicated to Roman pottery studies.<ref>e.g. Knorr 1919; Knorr 1952; Hermet 1934.</ref><ref>The site reports on the German forts at [[Haltern]] and [[Hofheim, Hesse|Hofheim]] in the early 20th century included form-classifications which are still in use for forms that were absent from Dragendorff's original list: Loeschcke 1909; Ritterling 1913</ref>

[[File:La Graufesenque samian kiln.jpg|thumb|270px|left|The remains of the ''grand four'' ("big [[kiln]]") at La Graufesenque]]

The motifs and designs on the [[relief]]-decorated wares echo the general traditions of Graeco-Roman decorative arts, with depictions of deities, references to myths and legends, and popular themes such as hunting and erotic scenes.  Individual figure-types, like the vessel-shapes, have been classified, and in many cases they may be linked with specific potters or workshops.  Some of the decoration relates to contemporary architectural ornament, with [[egg-and-tongue]] (ovolo) mouldings, [[Acanthus (ornament)|acanthus]] and vine [[scrollwork|scrolls]] and the like.  While the decoration of Arretine ware is often highly naturalistic in style, and is closely comparable with silver tableware of the same period, the designs on the Gaulish products, made by provincial artisans adopting Classical subjects, are intriguing for their expression of '[[Romanization (cultural)|romanisation]]', the fusion of Classical and native cultural and artistic traditions.

Many of the Gaulish manufacturing sites have been extensively excavated and studied.  At [[La Graufesenque]] in southern Gaul, documentary evidence in the form of lists or tallies apparently fired with single kiln-loads, giving potters' names and numbers of pots have long been known, and they suggest very large loads of 25,000–30,000 vessels.  Though not all the kilns at this, or other, manufacturing sites were so large, the excavation of the ''grand four'' (big kiln) at La Graufesenque, which was in use in the late 1st and early 2nd century, confirms the scale of the industry.  It is a rectangular stone-built structure measuring 11.3 m. by 6.8 m. externally, with an original height estimated at 7 metres. With up to nine 'storeys' within (dismantled after each firing), formed of tile floors and vertical columns in the form of clay pipes or tubes, which also served to conduct the heat, it has been estimated that it was capable of firing 30,000–40,000 vessels at a time, at a temperature of around 1000&nbsp;°C.<ref>Webster 1996, pp. 9–12 provides a useful summary.  For a report on the ''grand four'', see Vernhet 1981.</ref>

A 2005 work has shown that the slip is a matrix of mainly silicon and aluminium oxides, within which are suspended sub-microscopic crystals of haematite and corundum. The matrix itself does not contain any metallic ions, the haematite is substituted in aluminium and titanium while the corundum is substituted in iron. The two crystal populations are homogenously dispersed within the matrix.  The colour of haematite depends on the crystal size. Large crystals of this mineral are black but as the size decreases to sub-micron the colour shifts to red. The fraction of aluminium has a similar effect. It was formerly thought that the difference between 'red' and 'black' samian was due to the presence (black) or absence (red) of reducing gases from the kiln and that the construction of the kiln was so arranged as to prevent the reducing gases from the fuel from coming into contact with the pottery. The presence of iron oxides in the clay/slip was thought to be reflected in the colour according to the oxidation state of the iron (Fe[III] for the red and Fe[II] for the black, the latter produced by the reducing gases coming into contact with the pottery during firing). It now appears as a result of this recent work that this is not the case and that the colour of the glossy slip is in fact due to no more than the crystal size of the minerals dispersed within the matrix glass.<ref>Sciau, P. et al 2005, pp.006.5.1-6</ref>

===Forerunners===
[[File:Campanian ware phiale with relief decoration.JPG|thumb|A Campanian ware ''phiale'' (libation bowl) with mould-made relief decoration. c. 300 BC.]]
[[File:Megarian bowl.JPG#Summary|thumb|A black Megarian bowl, 2nd century BC]]

Arretine ware, in spite of its very distinctive appearance, was an integral part of the wider picture of fine ceramic tablewares in the Graeco-Roman world of the [[Hellenistic]] and early Roman period.  That picture must itself be seen in relation to the luxury tablewares made of silver.  Centuries before Italian  terra sigillata was made, [[Black-figure pottery|Attic painted vases]], and later their regional variants made in Italy, involved the preparation of a very fine clay body covered with a slip that fired to a glossy surface without the need for any polishing or burnishing.  Greek painted wares also involved the precise understanding and control of firing conditions to achieve the contrasts of black and red.<ref>Noble 1965</ref>

Glossy-slipped black pottery made in [[Etruria]] and [[Campania]] continued this technological tradition, though painted decoration gave way to simpler stamped motifs and in some cases, to applied motifs moulded in relief.<ref>Hayes 1997, pp. 37-40</ref>  The tradition of decorating entire vessels in low relief was also well established in Greece and Asia Minor by the time the Arretine industry began to expand in the middle of the 1st century BC, and examples were imported into Italy.  Relief-decorated cups, some in lead-glazed wares, were produced at several eastern centres, and undoubtedly played a part in the technical and stylistic evolution of decorated Arretine, but Megarian bowls, made chiefly in Greece and Asia Minor, are usually seen as the most direct inspiration.<ref>Garbsch 1982, pp.30-33</ref>  These are small, hemispherical bowls without foot-rings, and their decoration is frequently very reminiscent of contemporary silver bowls, with formalised, radiating patterns of leaves and flowers.<ref>Hayes 1997, pp.40-41:  Garbsch 1982, pp. 26-30</ref>  The crisp and precisely profiled forms of the plain dishes and cups were also part of a natural evolution of taste and fashion in the Mediterranean world of the 1st century BC.

===Arretine ware===
[[File:Arretine ware poinçon.JPG|thumb|190px|left|An Arretine stamp used for impressing a mould]]

Arretine ware began to be manufactured at and near [[Arezzo]] (Tuscany) a little before the middle of the 1st century BC.  The industry expanded rapidly in a period when Roman political and military influence was spreading far beyond Italy:  for the inhabitants of the first provinces of the Roman Empire in the reign of the Emperor Augustus (''reg.'' 27 BC&nbsp;– AD 14), this tableware, with its precise forms, shiny surface, and, on the decorated vessels, its visual introduction to Classical art and mythology, must have deeply impressed some inhabitants of the new northern provinces of the Empire.  Certainly it epitomised certain aspects of Roman taste and technical expertise.   Pottery industries in the areas we now call north-east France and [[Belgium]] quickly began to copy the shapes of plain Arretine dishes and cups in the wares now known as Gallo-Belgic,<ref>Tyers 1996, pp.161–166</ref> and in South and Central Gaul, it was not long before local potters also began to emulate the mould-made decoration and the glossy red slip itself.

The most recognisable decorated Arretine form is Dragendorff 11, a large, deep goblet on a high pedestal base, closely resembling some silver table vessels of the same period, such as the [[Warren Cup]].  The [[iconography]], too, tended to match the subjects and styles seen on silver plate, namely mythological and genre scenes, including erotic subjects, and small decorative details of swags, leafy wreaths and ovolo ([[egg-and-tongue]]) borders that may be compared with elements of Augustan architectural ornament. The deep form of the Dr.11 allowed the ''poinçons'' (stamps) used making the moulds of human and animal figures to be fairly large, often about 5–6&nbsp;cm high, and the modelling is frequently very accomplished indeed, attracting the interest of modern art-historians as well as archaeologists.  Major workshops, such as those of M.Perennius Tigranus, P. Cornelius and Cn. Ateius, stamped their products, and the names of the factory-owners and of the workers within the factories, which often appear on completed bowls and on plain wares, have been extensively studied, as have the forms of the vessels, and the details of their dating and distribution.<ref>Oxé-Comfort 1968 / 2000</ref>

[[File:Arretine mould.JPG|thumb|230px|Mould for an Arretine Dr.11, manufactured in the workshop of P. Cornelius]]

Italian sigillata was not made only at or near Arezzo itself: some of the important Arezzo businesses had branch factories in [[Pisa]], the Po valley and at other Italian cities. By the beginning of the 1st century AD, some of them had set up branch factories in Gaul, for example at La Muette near [[Lyon]] in Central Gaul.<ref>[[Elisabeth Ettlinger|Ettlinger, Elisabeth]]: ''Die italische Produktion: Die klassische Zeit.'' In: Ettlinger et al. 1990, pp. 4–13; von Schnurbein, Siegmar: ''Die außeritalische Produktion.'' In: Ettlinger et al. 1990, pp. 17–24.</ref>  Nor were the classic wares of the Augustan period the only forms of terra sigillata made in Italy: later industries in the [[Po Valley]] and elsewhere continued the tradition.<ref>The history of sigillata manufacture in Italy is succinctly summarised in Hayes 1997, pages 41–52.</ref>

In the Middle Ages, examples of the ware that were serendipitously discovered in digging foundations in Arezzo drew admiring attention as early as the 13th century, when [[Restoro d'Arezzo]]'s massive encyclopedia included a chapter praising the refined Roman ware discovered in his native city, "what is perhaps the first account of an aspect of ancient art to be written since classical times".<ref>Weiss, Roberto, ''The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity'' (Oxford: Blackwell) 1973:13 and note.</ref> The chronicler [[Giovanni Villani]] also mentioned the ware.<ref>Weiss 1973:13 note 4.</ref>

The first published study of Arretine ware was that of Fabroni in 1841,<ref>Fabroni 1841</ref> and by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, German scholars in particular had made great advances in systematically studying and understanding both Arretine ware and the Gaulish samian that occurred on Roman military sites being excavated in Germany.  Dragendorff's classification was expanded by other scholars, including S. Loeschcke in his study of the Italian sigillata excavated at the early Roman site of [[Haltern]].<ref>Loeschcke 1909</ref>  Research on Arretine ware has continued very actively throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, for example with the publication and revision of an inventory of the known potter's stamps ("Oxé-Comfort-Kenrick") and the development of a ''Conspectus'' of vessel forms, bringing earlier work on the respective topics up to date.<ref>Oxé & Comfort 1968; Oxé & Comfort & Kenrick 2000; Ettlinger et al. 1990.</ref> Catalogues of the punch motives and the workshops of Arretine Sigillata were published in 2004 and 2009, respectively,<ref>Porten Palange 2004; Porten Palange 2009.</ref> and a catalogue on the known appliqué motifs appeared in 2024.<ref>Ohlenroth & Schmid 2024.</ref> As with all ancient pottery studies, each generation asks new questions and applies new techniques (such as analysis of clays) in the attempt to find the answers.

===South Gaulish samian ware===
[[File:Kom in terra sigillata met reliëfversiering, 50 tot 85 NC, vindplaats- Tongeren, Kielenstraat, 1992, houtlemen ambachtswijk, kuil, collectie Gallo-Romeins Museum Tongeren, TO92-017-921.jpg|thumb|right|270px|Terra sigillata bowl, produced in [[La Graufesenque]], 50-85 A.D., found in Tongeren. [[Gallo-Roman Museum, Tongeren, Belgium]]]]
[[File:South Gaulish samian Dr 29 2.JPG|thumb|270px|right|South Gaulish Dragendorff 29, late 1st century AD. [[British Museum]], London]]

Sigillata vessels, both plain and decorated, were manufactured at several centres in southern France, including [[Bram, Aude|Bram]], [[Montans]], La Graufesenque, [[Le Rozier]] and [[Banassac]],<ref>See Tyers 1996, p. 106,  fig. 90 for a map of the Gaulish production sites</ref> from the late 1st century BC:  of these, La Graufesenque, near Millau, was the principal producer and exporter.  Although the establishment of sigillata potteries in Gaul may well have arisen initially to meet local demand and to undercut the prices of imported Italian goods, they became enormously successful in their own right, and by the later 1st century AD, South Gaulish samian was being exported not only to other provinces in the north-west of the Empire, but also to Italy and other regions of the Mediterranean, North Africa and even the eastern Empire.  One of the finds in the ruins of [[Pompeii]], destroyed by the eruption of [[Vesuvius]] in August AD 79, was a consignment of South Gaulish sigillata, still in its packing crate;<ref>Atkinson, D., "A hoard of Samian ware from Pompeii", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 4 (1914), pp. 26–64</ref> like all finds from the Vesuvian sites, this hoard of pottery is invaluable as dating evidence.

[[File:Roman pottery South Gaulish samian ware.jpg|thumb|250px|South Gaulish plain forms, showing standardisation of size. Millau Museum, France]]

South Gaulish samian typically has a redder slip and deeper pink fabric than Italian sigillata.  The best slips, vivid red and of an almost mirror-like brilliance, were achieved during the [[Emperor Claudius|Claudian]] and early [[Nero]]nian periods (Claudius, ''reg''. AD 41–54;  Nero, ''reg''. AD 54–68).  At the same period, some workshops experimented briefly with a marbled red-and-yellow slip, a variant that never became generally popular.<ref>Johns 1977, p. 12, Pl.II</ref>  Early production of plain forms in South Gaul initially followed the Italian models closely, and even the characteristic Arretine decorated form, Dragendorff 11, was made.  But many new shapes quickly evolved, and by the second half of the 1st century AD, when Italian sigillata was no longer influential, South Gaulish samian had created its own characteristic repertoire of forms. The two principal decorated forms were Dragendorff 30, a deep, cylindrical bowl, and Dragendorff 29, a carinated ('keeled') shallow bowl with a marked angle, emphasised by a moulding, mid-way down the profile.  The footring is low, and potters' stamps are usually bowl-maker's marks placed in the interior base, so that vessels made from the same, or parallel, moulds may bear different names.  The rim of the 29, small and upright in early examples of the form, but much deeper and more everted by the 70s of the 1st century, is finished with rouletted decoration,{{efn|'Rouletted' decoration: this is a regular, notched surface texture, created by using a tool with a toothed wheel (''roulette'') to impress the pattern on the bowl before the clay was hard. It is also possible that it was sometimes made by holding a blade-like tool against the vessel as it turned on the wheel, allowing the tool to judder against the surface of the clay.}} and the relief-decorated surfaces necessarily fall into two narrow zones.  These were usually decorated with floral and foliate designs of wreaths and scrolls at first: the Dr.29 resting on its rim illustrated in the lead section of this article is an early example, less angular than the developed form of the 60s and 70s, with decoration consisting of simple, very elegant leaf-scrolls.  Small human and animal figures, and more complex designs set out in separate panels, became more popular by the 70s of the 1st century.  Larger human and animal figures could be used on the Dr.30 vessels, but while many of these have great charm, South Gaulish craftsmen never achieved, and perhaps never aspired to, the Classical naturalism of some of their Italian counterparts.
[[File:Samian ware bowl by Mercato.JPG|thumb|220px|South Gaulish bowl, Dr.37, from the late 1st century AD, with a stamp of the potter Mercato in the decoration. British Museum]]
In the last two decades of the 1st century, the Dragendorff 37, a deep, rounded vessel with a plain upright rim, overtook the 29 in popularity.  This simple shape remained the standard Gaulish samian relief-decorated form, from all Gaulish manufacturing regions, for more than a century.  Small relief-decorated [[Beaker (archaeology)|beakers]] such as forms Déchelette 67 and Knorr 78 were also made in South Gaul, as were occasional 'one-off' or very ambitious mould-made vessels, such as large thin-walled flagons and flasks.<ref>Examples of these may be found in Hermet's own type-sequence, Hermet 1934, Pl.4—5</ref>  But the mass of South Gaulish samian found on Roman sites of the 1st century AD consists of plain dishes, bowls and cups, especially Dr.18 (a shallow dish) and Dr.27 (a little cup with a distinctive double curve to the profile), many of which bear potters' name-stamps, and the large decorated forms 29, 30 and 37.

A local industry inspired by Arretine and South Gaulish imports grew up in the [[Iberia]]n provinces in the 1st century AD. ''Terra sigillata hispanica'' developed its own distinctive forms and designs, and continued in production into the late Roman period, the 4th and 5th centuries AD.  It was not exported to other regions.

===Central Gaulish samian ware===
[[File:Central Gaulish samian Dr.30.JPG|thumb|230px|Central Gaulish Dr.30, stamped by Divixtus]]

The principal Central Gaulish samian potteries were situated at Lezoux and [[Les Martres-de-Veyre]], not far from [[Clermont-Ferrand]] in the [[Auvergne (province)|Auvergne]].   Production had already begun at Lezoux in the [[Emperor Augustus|Augustan]] period (Augustus, ''reg''. 27 BC–AD 14), but it was not until the reign of [[Trajan]] (AD 98–117), and the beginning of a decline in the South Gaulish export trade, that Central Gaulish samian ware became important outside its own region.  Though it never achieved the extensive geographical distribution of the South Gaulish factories, in the provinces of Gaul and [[Roman Britain|Britain]], it was by far the most common type of fine tableware, plain and decorated, in use during the 2nd century AD.  The quality of the ware and the slip is usually excellent, and some of the products of Les Martres-de-Veyre, in particular, are outstanding, with a lustrous slip and a very hard, dense body.<ref>Johns 1977, p. 24:  Tyers 1996, 113</ref>  The surface colour tends towards a more orange-red hue than the typical South Gaulish slips.

Vessel-forms that had been made in South Gaul continued to be produced, though as the decades passed, they evolved and changed with the normal shifts of fashion, and some new shapes were created, such as the plain bowl with a horizontal flange below the rim, Dr.38.  [[Mortarium|Mortaria]], food-preparation bowls with a gritted interior surface, were also made in Central Gaulish samian fabric in the second half of the 2nd century (Dr.45).  There is a small sub-class of Central Gaulish samian ware with a glossy black slip, though the dividing line between black terra sigillata and other fine black-gloss wares, which were also manufactured in the area, is sometimes hazy.  When a vessel is a classic samian form and decorated in relief in the style of a known samian potter, but finished with black slip rather than a red one, it may be classed as black samian.

[[File:Roman pottery Central Gaulish samian jar.JPG|thumb|230px|Central Gaulish samian jar with 'cut-glass' decoration]]

Though the Central Gaulish forms continued and built upon the South Gaulish traditions, the decoration of the principal decorated forms, Dr.30 and Dr.37, was distinctive.<ref>The basic study remains Stanfield & [[Grace Simpson|Simpson]] 1958 / 1990</ref>  New human and animal figure-types appeared, generally modelled with greater realism and sophistication than those of La Graufesenque and other South Gaulish centres.  Figure-types and decorative details have been classified, and can often be linked to specific workshops<ref>Many of the Central Gaulish types were first drawn and classified in Déchelette 1904.  Oswald's classification (Oswald 1936–7) is much fuller, covering South, Central and East Gaulish types, but is marred by the poor quality of the drawings.</ref> Lezoux wares also included vases decorated with [[barbotine]] relief, with appliqué motifs, and a class usually referred to as 'cut-glass' decoration, with geometric patterns cut into the surface of the vessel before slipping and firing.  Two standard 'plain' types made in considerable numbers in Central Gaul also included barbotine decoration, Dr.35 and 36, a matching cup and dish with a curved horizontal rim embellished with a stylised scroll of leaves in relief.

During the second half of the 2nd century, some Lezoux workshops making relief-decorated bowls, above all that of Cinnamus, dominated the market with their large production.<ref>Stanfield & Simpson 1958, pp. 263–271</ref>  The wares of Cinnamus, Paternus, Divixtus, Doeccus, Advocisus, Albucius and some others often included large, easily legible name-stamps incorporated into the decoration, clearly acting as brand-names or advertisements.<ref>Johns 1977,pp.16–17</ref>  Though these vessels were very competently made, they are heavy and somewhat coarse in form and finish compared with earlier Gaulish samian ware.

From the end of the 2nd century, the export of sigillata from Central Gaul rapidly, perhaps even abruptly, ceased.  Pottery production continued, but in the 3rd century, it reverted to being a local industry.

===East Gaulish samian ware===
[[File:Rheinzabern samian vase.JPG|thumb|Rheinzabern barbotine-decorated vase, form Ludowici VMe]]

There were numerous potteries manufacturing terra sigillata in East Gaul, which included [[Alsace]], the [[Saarland]], and the [[Rhine]] and [[Moselle (river)|Mosel]] regions, but while the samian pottery from [[Luxeuil]], [[Laneuveville-devant-Nancy|La Madeleine]], Chémery-Faulquemont, [[Lavoye]], [[Remagen]], [[Sinzig]], Blickweiler and other sites is of interest and importance mainly to specialists, two sources stand out because their wares are often found outside their own immediate areas, namely [[Rheinzabern]], near [[Speyer]], and [[Trier]].<ref>For a good selection of examples, see Garbsch 1982, pp. 54–74</ref>

The Trier potteries evidently began to make samian vessels around the beginning of the 2nd century AD, and were still active until the middle of the 3rd century.  The styles and the potters have been divided by scholars into two main phases, Werkstatten I and II.<ref>Huld-Zetsche 1972;  Huld-Zetsche 1993</ref>  Some of the later mould-made Dr.37 bowls are of very poor quality, with crude decoration and careless finishing.

The Rheinzabern kilns and their products have been studied since Wilhelm Ludowici (1855–1929) began to excavate there in 1901, and to publish his results in a series of detailed reports.<ref>Ludowici 1927; Ricken 1942; Ricken & Fischer 1963</ref>  Rheinzabern produced both decorated and plain forms for around a century from the middle of the 2nd century.  Some of the Dr.37 bowls, for example those with the workshop stamp of Ianus, bear comparison with Central Gaulish products of the same date:  others are less successful. But the real strength of the Rheinzabern industry lay in its extensive production of good-quality samian cups, beakers, flagons and vases, many imaginatively decorated with barbotine designs or in the 'cut-glass' incised technique.  Ludowici created his own type-series, which sometimes overlaps with those of other sigillata specialists.  Ludowici's types use combinations of upper- and lower-case letters rather than simple numbers, the first letter referring to the general shape, such as 'T' for ''Teller'' (dish).

In general, the products of the East Gaulish industries moved away from the early imperial Mediterranean tradition of intricately profiled dishes and cups, and ornamented bowls made in moulds, and converged with the later Roman local traditions of pottery-making in the northern provinces, using free-thrown, rounded forms and creating relief designs with freehand slip-trailing.  Fashions in fine tablewares were changing.  Some East Gaulish producers made bowls and cups decorated only with rouletted or stamped decoration, and in the 3rd and 4th centuries, [[Forest of Argonne|Argonne]] ware, decorated with all-over patterns of small stamps, was made in the area east of Rheims and quite widely traded.<ref>Tyers 1996, pp. 136–7.  The stamps have been classified in Chenet 1941 and Hübener 1968</ref>   Argonne ware was essentially still a type of sigillata, and the most characteristic form is a small, sturdy Dr.37 bowl.  Small, localised attempts to make conventional relief-decorated samian ware included a brief and unsuccessful venture at [[Colchester]] in Britain, apparently initiated by potters from the East Gaulish factories at Sinzig, a centre that was itself an offshoot of the Trier workshops.<ref>Tyers 1996. pp. 114–116; Hull 1963; Fischer 1969.</ref>

===Eastern sigillatas===
[[File:Eastern Sigillata B Form 65.svg|thumb|right|Form 65 of Eastern sigillata B1/2]]
In the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, there had been several industries making fine red tablewares with smooth, glossy-slipped surfaces since about the middle of the 2nd century BC, well before the rise of the Italian sigillata workshops.  By the 1st century BC, their forms often paralleled Arretine plain-ware shapes quite closely.  There were evidently centres of production in [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]]; in western Turkey, exported through [[Ephesos]]; [[Pergamon]]; [[Çandarlı]], near Pergamon; and on [[Cyprus]], but archaeologists often refer to [[eastern sigillata A]] from Northern [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]], '''<span class="anchor" id="Eastern sigillata B">eastern sigillata B</span>''' from [[Tralles]] in Asia Minor, [[eastern sigillata C]] from ancient [[Pitane (Aeolis)|Pitane]], and [[eastern sigillata D]] (or Cypriot sigillata) from Cyprus, as there is still much to be learnt about this material.  While eastern sigillata C is known to come from Çandarli (ancient [[Pitane (Aeolis)|Pitane]]), there were likely other workshops in the wider region of [[Pergamon]].<ref>The summary in Hayes 1997, pages 52–59 illustrates the main forms and describes the characteristics of wares.</ref> By the early 2nd century AD, when Gaulish samian was completely dominating the markets in the Northern provinces, the eastern sigillatas were themselves beginning to be displaced by the rising importance of African Red Slip wares in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Empire. In the fourth century AD, [[Phocaean red slip]] appears as a successor to Eastern sigillata C.

In the 1980s two primary groups of Eastern Terra Sigillata in the Eastern Mediterranean basin were distinguished as ETS-I and ETS-II based on their chemical fingerprints as shown by analysis by instrumental [[neutron activation analysis]] (INAA).  ETS-I originated in Eastern [[Cyprus]], whereas the ETS-II was probably made in [[Pamphylia]], at [[Perge]], [[Aspendos]] and [[Side, Turkey|Side]]. <!-- "Also the chronology of Eastern Terra Sigillata has changed in the light of the origin of the ETS pottery, i.e. 150 BC – 70 AD (the destruction of Eastern Cyprus and the Temple of Jerusalem." Too incoherent to use – please clarify. what about these dates? --><ref>Gunneweg, J., 1980 Ph.D.Thesis, Hebrew University; Gunneweg, Perlman and Yellin, 1983, ''The Provenience, Typology and Chronology of Eastern Terra Sigillata of the Eastern Mediterranean'', QEDEM 17, Jerusalem, Ahva Press</ref>  However this classification has been criticized, and is not universally accepted.  A potter's quarter at [[Sagalassos]] inland from the southern Turkish coast has been excavated since it was discovered in 1987, and its wares traced to many sites in the region. It was active from around 25 to 550 AD.<ref>Poblome, Jernen, "The Ecology of Sagalassos (Southwest Turkey) Red Slip Ware", in ''Archaeological and historical aspects of West-European societies: album amicorum André Van Doorselaer'', Issue 8 of ''Acta archaeologica Lovaniensia: Monographiae'', 1996, Ed. Marc Lodewijckx, Leuven University Press, {{ISSN|0776-2984}}, {{ISBN|9061867223}}, 9789061867227, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NAAS5jBI-IC&pg=PA500&lpg=PA500 google books]</ref>

===African red slip ware===
{{main|African red slip ware}}
[[File:Roman pottery African Red Slip.jpg|thumb|Late Roman African Red Slip dish, 4th century AD]]

African red slip ware (ARS) was the final development of terra sigillata.<ref>Hayes 1972 and Hayes 1980 are the standard reference works:  Hayes 1997, pp. 59–64 provides a succinct summary.</ref>   While the products of the Italian and Gaulish red-gloss industries flourished and were exported from their places of manufacture for at most a century or two each, ARS production continued for more than 500 years.  The centres of production were in the Roman provinces of [[Africa (Roman province)|Africa Proconsularis]], [[Byzacena]] and [[Numidia]]; that is, modern [[Tunisia]] and part of eastern [[Algeria]].  From about the 4th century AD, competent copies of the fabric and forms were also made in several other regions, including [[Asia Minor]], the eastern Mediterranean and Egypt.   Over the long period of production, there was obviously much change and evolution in both forms and fabrics.  Both Italian and Gaulish plain forms influenced ARS in the 1st and 2nd centuries (for example, Hayes Form 2, the cup or dish with an outcurved rim decorated with barbotine leaves, is a direct copy of the samian forms Dr.35 and 36, made in South and Central Gaul),<ref>Hayes 1972, p. 19–20.</ref> but over time a distinctive ARS repertoire developed.

[[File:African Red Slip vessels.JPG|thumb|220px|African Red Slip flagons and vases, 2nd-4th century AD]]

There was a wide range of dishes and bowls, many with rouletted or stamped decoration, and closed forms such as tall ovoid flagons with appliqué ornament (Hayes Form 171).  The ambitious large rectangular dishes with relief decoration in the centre and on the wide rims (Hayes Form 56),  were clearly inspired by decorated silver platters of the 4th century, which were made in rectangular and polygonal shapes as well as in the traditional circular form.  Decorative motifs reflected not only the Graeco-Roman traditions of the Mediterranean, but eventually the rise of [[Christianity]] as well. There is a great variety of monogram crosses and plain crosses amongst the stamps.