VA·5 Golasecca

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Object
Classification:	beaker
Material:	pottery
Size:	height 8.5 cm, mouth diam. 7.8 cm
Condition:	damaged, repaired
Autopsy by:	Corinna Salomon
Date of autopsy:	Apr 27 2022
Archaeological culture:	Golasecca II B
Date:	second half of the 6th c. BC
Date derived from:	typology
Site:	Golasecca (Varese, Lombardia, Italy)
Field name:	Monsorino
Coordinates (approx.):	45° 42' 37.73" N, 8° 39' 45.23" E
Find date:	between 1822 and 1824
Find circumstances:	excavation
Finder:	Giovan Battista Giani
Current location:	Civico Museo Archeologico (Milano)
Inventory no.:	A 0.9.3243
Inscription:	VA·5 (???)
Alternative sigla:	Solinas 1995: 118 Morandi 2004: 79
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 574 no. 78

Images

Beaker excavated by Giani with mark

Beaker VA·5 Golasecca from Giani

Beaker excavated by Giani with mark

Beakers with marks excavated by giani at Golasecca

Beaker VA·5 Golasecca with inscription VA·5

Commentary

Image in Giani 1824: tav. IV.17 (drawing).

Small beaker of black-glazed ware; detailed description in Garovaglio 1883: 21, no. 21. The object passed from the possession of the excavator Giovan Battista Giani into that of the collector Ambrogio Uboldi, where Bernardino Biondelli saw it in the 1850s (Mommsen 1853: 217), and after the latter's death (1865) to the Civico Museo Archeologico (Milano) (Garovaglio 1883: 23, n. 1). It was reported untraceable by Gambari & Colonna 1988: 160, no. 2, but could upon request in 2022 be found in the museum's depot with the inventory number indicated above. The entire foot area appears to have been damaged and was restored.

Though the object definitely comes from the Golasecca necropolis, the precise find spot is somewhat uncertain. The museum's records name Golasecca, but this may refer to the necropolis in general – two very similar black-glazed beakers bearing marks excavated by Giani (inv. no.s A 0.9.3301, A 0.9.3109) are filed as coming from the "area della cultura di Golasecca". Cf. also the similar vessels excavated by Pompeo Castelfranco (see VA·32 Golasecca). It thus seems possible that the attribution of the object to Golasecca, which is commonly found in the literature (PID: 104, note xvi, Gambari & Colonna 1988: 160, no. 2, Solinas 1995: 370, no. 118, Morandi 2004), stems from the association with the Golasecca necropolis, and that the present object is technically from Sesto Calende; cf. especially the similar VA·4 Sesto Calende. A map with indications of the tombs excavated by Giani in Golasecca (Monsorino) and Sesto Calende (Corneliane) can be found in De Marinis 2009c: 471, fig. 1. Cf. also NO·1 Castelletto sopra Ticino

The beaker probably bore a St. Andrew's cross mark on the foot, just like the abovementioned vessels. Dating from De Marinis 1986b: 76, n. 55.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

De Marinis 1986b	Raffaele De Marinis, "I commerci dell'Etruria con i paesi a nord del Po dal IX al VI secolo a.C.", in: Raffaele De Marinis (ed.), Gli Etruschi a nord del Po. Mantova Palazzo Ducale - Galleria dell'Estivale, 21 settembre - 12 gennaio 1987, Mantova: 1986–1987. (catalogo della mostra, 2 volumes: vol. I 1986, vol. II 1987), I 52–80.
De Marinis 2009c	Raffaele C. de Marinis, "L'area archeologica del Monsorino", in: Raffaele C. de Marinis, Serena Massa, Maddalena Pizzo (eds), Alle origini di Varese e del suo territorio. Le collezioni del sistema archeologico provinciale [= Bibliotheca Archaeologica 44], Roma: L'Erma di Bretschneider 2009, 471–482.
Gambari & Colonna 1988	Filippo Maria Gambari, Giovanni Colonna, "Il bicchiere con iscrizione arcaica da Castelletto Ticino e l'adozione della scrittura nell'Italia nord-occidentale", Studi Etruschi 54 (1986 [1988]), 119–164.
Garovaglio 1883	Alfonso Garovaglio, "Segni graffiti impressi, od a vernice traslucido su vasi arcaici delle necropoli di Rondineto, Golasecca, Castelletto Ticino, Coarezza, Montorfano ed Orile", Rivista Archeologica della Provincia di Como 23 (1883), 18–26.
Giani 1824	Giovan Battista Giani, Battaglia del Ticino tra Annibale e Scipione ossia scoperta del campo di P. C. Scipione, delle vestigia del ponte sul Ticino, del sito della battaglia e delle tombe de' Romani e de' Galli in essa periti, Milano: Imperiale Regia Stamperia 1824.