Pegasus plate

The Pegasus, a winged horse, was a popular mythical creature in ancient Greece. Lieutenant Colonel Montague purchased this plate from a collector named Harold Clemens. The plate is 2,300 years old and was bequeathed to the museum by Montague upon his death.

Lieutenant Colonel Leopold Agar Denys Montague (1861–1940) was an avid collector. On his death in 1940, he left his collection of about 800 pieces to RAMM. You can find more of the pieces he collected on RAMM’s collections site.

Visual description: A round, shallow terracotta plate. The majority of the plate is painted black. The decoration and figures are unpainted, revealing the terracotta colour of the clay. At the centre, a Pegasus is depicted with its wings folded against its body and one leg raised. Surrounding the Pegasus, a series of decorative patterns form concentric circles. The first pattern is waves, followed by a circle, then olive tree leaves.