The Mildenhall Treasure is a large hoard of 34 masterpieces of Roman silver tableware from the fourth century CE, and by far the most valuable Roman objects artistically and by weight of bullion in Britain. It was found at West Row, near Mildenhall, Suffolk, in 1942. It consists of over thirty items and includes the Great Dish which weighs over 8 kg (18 lb). The collection is on view in the British Museum because of its immense importance and value, and replicas are on show in the local museum at Mildenhall.
History of discovery
The hoard was discovered while ploughing in January 1942 by Gordon Butcher, who claimed he had removed it from the ground with help from Sydney Ford, for whom he was working at the time. Many details of the discovery remain uncertain, not least because it took place during wartime. They claimed that they did not at first recognise the objects for what they were, although Ford collected ancient objects. Ford cleaned the pieces and displayed them in his house, using some of them as daily utensils and some, such as the Great Dish, on special occasions with the family. Ford had to declare the hoard to the authorities in 1946 after a knowledgeable friend, Dr. Hugh A. Fawcett, had seen them in his home and reported them. An inquest was held that year, when the find was legally declared a "treasure trove" and acquired by the British Museum in London. Academic opinion at the time was generally reluctant to believe that such fine-quality Roman silver could have been used in Roman Britain, and there were many imaginative rumours and even doubts that this was a genuine British find at all. The numerous well-documented discoveries of high-quality Roman material in subsequent decades, including the Hoxne Hoard also found in Suffolk in 1992, have set all such doubts to rest. In the 1990s, Richard Hobbs drew attention to the importance of the partly fictional account by Roald Dahl, and addressed the issues surrounding the actual finding. In Dahl's version of events, Hobbs believes that Ford was fully aware of the significance of the find, but could not bear to part with the treasure. He kept it and restored it in secret, but two of the spoons left out on display were seen by an unexpected visitor, Dr. Fawcett. Ford and Butcher were awarded £1000 each as finders, although not necessarily the full ex gratia reward, since the find had not been correctly reported and since most of those involved doubted that Ford and Butcher had given a true account of the finding. The two archaeologists who had represented the British Museum at the inquest – Tom Lethbridge and Major Gordon Fowler – continued to research the finding for some years after 1946, but in the end could only be sure of one thing – that Ford had not told the truth about how and where he had obtained the treasure. In Paul Ashbee’s words, Ford's account was 'patently spurious' and the source of treasure was a case of "ignotum per ignotius".
History of display and publication The Mildenhall find was placed on show in its entirety in the British Museum as soon as the necessary registration and conservation work had been completed following its acquisition in 1946, and it has remained a permanent feature of the museum's Romano-British gallery ever since, with occasional loans of some pieces to special exhibitions both within the museum and elsewhere. John W. Brailsford promptly published the first brief, summary catalogue of the find, and successive revised editions of this booklet were published in 1955 and 1964. A somewhat fuller, though still brief, study by Kenneth S. Painter came out in 1977. (Note that the catalogue numbers in Painter 1977, cited in the descriptions below, correspond with the sequence of Museum registration numbers, 1946.10-1.1–34, established in the original curatorial listing of the objects). The most striking object in the treasure, the Great Dish (see below) has been illustrated and mentioned in countless publications, including a major paper on late Roman "picture plates". A detailed study of the treasure has recently been published by the British Museum.
The contents of the hoard
The treasure consists of silver tableware of types current in the 4th century, and it was probably concealed at some time in that century. Most of the objects are comparatively large, and all are of very high-quality workmanship. The hoard consists of two large serving platters, two small decorated serving plates, a deep fluted bowl, a set of four large decorated bowls, two small decorated bowls, two small pedestalled dishes, a deep flanged bowl with a deep, domed cover, five small round ladles with dolphin-shaped handles, and eight long-handled spoons (cochlearium).
Platters and dishes The Great Dish (also known as the Oceanus Dish or as the Neptune Dish, from the face of a sea-god at its centre), which measures 605 mm (23.82 in) in diameter and weighs 8.256 kg (18.20 lb), is the outstanding piece. The decoration, which was worked by chasing from the front, is in three concentric zones. In the centre, the head of a marine deity, probably Oceanus, the personification of the ocean, is shown full-face, with a beard made of seaweed, and with dolphins emerging from his hair. This portrait is surrounded by a narrow inner frieze of decoration, populated by nereids (sea-nymphs), tritons and other mythical and natural sea-creatures, while the deep outermost zone carries imagery of the Bacchic thiasos: the dancing, music-making and drinking revels of the god Bacchus. More specifically, the triumph of Bacchus over Hercules is depicted. Hercules is shown staggering drunkenly and supported by two helpful satyrs. Bacchus himself appears with his panther and Silenus at the '12 o'clock' position on the circle in relation to the orientation of the Oceanus head, so that in most illustrations of the dish, he is seen upside-down at the top of the picture. The god Pan also appears in the composition, dancing and brandishing his pan-pipes, as do several dancing Maenads, the female devotees of Bacchus, and satyrs. The entire design is traditionally pagan, and is superbly executed.
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