In the kitchens of ancient Herculaneum, as in modern ones, functionality dictated the arrangement and use of tableware. Vessels were distinguished by their specific purpose: storage, cooking, or table service.

This display presents a rich and evocative selection of artifacts that illuminate the food practices, artisanal technologies, and everyday habits of the Vesuvian world, offering an authentic and vivid glimpse into domestic life.

A two-handled jar (olletta, 1) from the House of the Mosaic Atrium bears witness to ancient food storage practices.

From the House of the Carbonized Furniture comes a refined marble mortar (2) with pestle – an essential tool for preparing sauces and condiments. The base is decorated with an engraved design: a six-petaled flower inscribed within a circle, with radiating lines dividing the space into quadrants. This unusual motif for such a utilitarian object reveals a rare attention to aesthetics in everyday tools.

An elegant bronze bucket (3), discovered in the House of the Alcove, stands out for its finely crafted attachments, featuring masks of Erotes framed by palmettes and duck-head protomes at the ends of the handle. Intended for carrying water, it shows how even the most practical objects could take on symbolic and ornamental value.

Of particular note is a bronze saucepan (4) from the House of the Two Atria, a hallmark of Vesuvian craftsmanship from the 1st century AD. It features a ring base decorated with concentric circles, a beaded handle, and a stamp attributable to the workshop of Publius Cipius Polybius, active between AD 65 and 85. Its precise function remains debated—perhaps used in the preparation or serving of beverages – but it clearly reflects the intersection between practical use and symbolic representation in Roman material culture.

At the center of the display, a group of glass bottles and jars (5) from the House of the Wooden Shrine – discovered inside a carbonized wooden chest – offers insight into the storage and transport of liquids such as oil and wine. Similar containers have also been found at Pompeii and Boscoreale, confirming their widespread use throughout the Vesuvian area.

A ceramic pot (6) and pan (7), originating from the House of the Bronze Herm and the House with a Wattle Wall, were used for cooking food. Inside them, a variety of cereals and legumes have been placed: chickpeas (Cicer arietinum)—the only known example of this species in the entire Vesuvian area—peas (Pisum sativum), lentils (Lens culinaris), grass peas (Lathyrus sativus), and bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), mixed with emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare). These ingredients ideally reconstruct the composition of mixed cereal and legume soups, one of the most widespread, nutritious, and appreciated dishes of Roman cuisine, consumed and sold much like the grain-legume mixes found today on supermarket shelves.

The ensemble also includes nine carbonized onions (8), a widely used foodstuff—like garlic—especially among the lower social classes.

The display further features a ceramic storage jar (9) with a flared rim and two grooved handles, commonly identified as an urceus (a vessel used for storing fruit), whose function has also been interpreted through iconographic sources.

From the House of the Cloth comes a hemispherical bronze basin (10), adorned with serpent protomes on the handles and engraved concentric circles on the base. Such vessels may have been used for ritual ablutions before the banquet or as fruit containers.

A small bronze jug (11), found with grain inside, suggests that similar containers may have been used as volumetric measures. Its ring-shaped handle and leaf-shaped thumb rest ensured a secure and comfortable grip.