LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

This article presents a previously unpublished Roman travertine relief showing scenes of breadmaking, currently in the restaurant Romolo in Trastevere in Rome. It presumably came originally from a tomb monument, possibly in the vicinity, and might be dated on grounds of material and style anywhere between the very late Republic and the Flavian period. From left to right it shows two men delivering of sacks of grain, a man loading grain into an animal-driven mill, three men keading dough by hand, three more shaping loaves, and one putting loaves into the oven. The article discusses parallels in other reliefs of bakery scenes, and highlights the importance of this one for the evidence that it provides for the extent of division of labour in a fairly large-scale bakery. Despite points of comparison with other better-known bakery scenes, notably that from the tomb of Eurysaces, the narrative sequence is clearer and not directly paralleled, and the relief is the only one to show the manual kneading of dough.