Samian ware
noun
a red-glazed terracotta pottery produced in Gaul and the Moselle Valley a.d. 100–300 and copied from Arretine ware.
Also called
terra sigillata.
Origin of Samian ware
First recorded in 1835–45; after classical references to a type of pottery produced at Samos, perhaps an imitation of the red-glazed ware produced in Gaul and Italy
British Dictionary definitions for samian ware
Samian ware
noun
a fine earthenware pottery, reddish-brown or black in colour, found in large quantities on Roman sites
Also called: Arretine ware
the earlier pottery from which this developed, an imitation of a type of Greek pottery, made during the first century bc at Arretium
Word Origin for Samian ware
C19: named after the island of
Samos, source of a reddish-coloured earth resembling terra sigillata, similar to the earth from which the pottery was made