Question for you woodworkers...

[Franklin]

Hey, I did a forum search for "box" and one for "chest" and came up empty handed both times. Do we have any archaeological or artistic evidence for what a Roman box may have looked like or how it was constructed? Right now the closest I can find to our era are viking chests from Mastermyr and Oseberg. Beautiful works to copy! But I'd much rather have something Roman.

[Lucius Duccius Rufinus]

dont know if this is quite what you were looking but the picture below is of a plaster cast of wooden storage chest circa first century CE found in Pompeii, in the House of C. Julius Polybius.

[jvrjenivs]

Repro by Theo Andela ( www.frisius-f.de ). He also make all the metal parts you would need.


A beautifull box from Cumae. (original bone decorations on new wood)


(Picture © Luciano Pedicini/Archivio dell’Arte, Napels )

A money chest from Stabiae (height: 92 cm, width: 105 cm)
[url:1c8tukpo]http://www.museumhetvalkhof.nl/images/stories/beeldbank/luxe_en_decadentie13.jpg[/url]
(picture © Luciano Pedicini/Archivio dell’Arte, Napels)

The one from Stabiae and Cumae are currently in the Valkhof Museum, Nijmegen in the Luxury and Decadence exhibition.

See also [url:1c8tukpo]http://www.antike-tischkultur.de[/url] (truhe = chest under möbel = furniture) a very nice website.

[Salvianus]

I have a large scale version of the loculus from the Comacchio wreck, the beauty of which is the all wood construction. Pics from my livejournal gallery:

http://pics.livejournal.com/salvianus/pic/000a9ews/g43

http://pics.livejournal.com/salvianus/pic/000a8qqg/g43

The memorial of naupegus Publius Longidienus appears to show him using a toolbox comparable to the Mastermyr type plus keyhole to stand on (Roman Woodworking by Roger Bradley Ulrich)

[Lucius Duccius Rufinus]

I have a large scale version of the loculus from the Comacchio wreck, the beauty of which is the all wood construction. Pics from my livejournal gallery:

http://pics.livejournal.com/salvianus/pic/000a9ews/g43

http://pics.livejournal.com/salvianus/pic/000a8qqg/g43

The memorial of naupegus Publius Longidienus appears to show him using a toolbox comparable to the Mastermyr type plus keyhole to stand on (Roman Woodworking by Roger Bradley Ulrich)

Reminds me of something i made in woodshop at school with the sliding panel, very nice tho! i though a loculus was more the leather bags that the romans used to carry gear around in? (excuse my ignorance, im new to this game still!)

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

loculus is a word with a lot of significances. Another one is loculus for the place for a burial, specially with the incineration ritus. The literal translation is "little place".

[Matthew Amt]

The Corbridge Hoard box! Sides joined by dovetails, reinforced with iron L-section strips, covered with leather. Cool box. Of course, then you have to fill it with lorica parts, spearheads, a big mug, game pieces, tablets, and other junk!

Matthew

[Franklin]

The Corbridge Hoard box!

Thanks Matt, is there a picture of this somewhere?

[Matthew Amt]

Well, a few places have pirated the Connolly drawing of it, such as:

http://www.legionxxiv.org/lrgcorbrghoard.htm

That's all I'm seeing on a quick Google search. The Corbridge Excavation report has a color version on the cover, plus some construction details. I don't know if anyone's done a full reconstruction, though, either real or virtual.

Matthew

[Martin Moser]

I have a large scale version of the loculus from the Comacchio wreck

and here is the 1:1 scale version of one of those boxes :-) )





(one square of the cutting mat is 2.5cm)

[Martin Moser]

A similar box, but larger, is on display at the Limesmuseum in Aalen:

[Franklin]

Looks like the Romans loved a dovetail joint.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Wow, a form of strong box I imagine?

[Salvianus]

and here is the 1:1 scale version of one of those boxes :-) )

Nice work

V. helpful pics from the museum, too, Martin, Laudes!

Yep, very fine dovetails, given the size on the Comacchio - 10.4cmL X 6W X 4.5H, a real pocket box size!

[Peroni]

Looking at the chain on the Aalen box, Could this be a drawer from a desk or chest?

I am thinking that the chain would stop the drawer being fully removed from the body of the desk/chest.