Atramentaria
A small metal disc damascened with gold and silver on its upper face has proved to be a remain of the lid of a little cylindrical inkpot datable to Roman age. The piece was found in Montebello district, at the 10th mile of Via Flaminia, and belongs to a group consisting of not much more than 30 items. Among these, the rarest are obviously the damascened ones, created by accomplished craftsmen (whose stamps are sometimes still impressed on the same objects) and devoted to an exclusive aristocratic élite, maybe also for private collecting. This specimen is datable to the second half of 1st century a.C., like most of the other similar pieces, even though this does not suggest any connection with the Augustan complex at Prima Porta, close to the place in which the lid was found.
