Mold-blowing in the Western Empire

Method of production of a mold-blown, finely ribbed bowl.

Fragments of these kinds of mold-blown ribbed bowls have been recovered from contexts that date close to A.D. 45 at the legionary fort of Vindonissa (modern Windisch) on the upper reaches of the Rhine, and at the colony of Forum Julii (modern Frejus) on the southern coast of France. Just a decade or so later, they crop up at several sites in Romano-Britain. 

What seems to distinguish mold-blown ribbed bowls made in the eastern provinces is that they are shallow, whereas those made in the northwestern provinces and around the Black Sea coast usually are hemispherical.