Description of the Property (Reg I, Ins 6, 7)
The entrance vestibule (a) is wide
facilitating easy access to the premises. The remains of a large clothes
press were found against the east wall of the vestibule. The press, which was used for 'ironing' tunics and togas, appears to have been very similar to one found in nearby Herculaneum (pictured below).
..
..
On the west side of the vestibule is a room (b) possibly used as the
office for checking in and out of clothes. The room (pictured lower
right) is decorated in the fourth style with red panels with decorative
borders above a lower red frieze. The panels contain small central
figures. The upper zone contains architectural motifs with garlands and
bird life on a white ground. The east wall is open to the vestibule over
much of its length, while there is a narrow doorway in the south wall
(pictured below) which opens directly onto the atrium (c).
..
..
..
The atrium is decorated in the fourth style with red
panels framed with decorative borders above a lower black frieze. The
panels contain delicate vignettes of animals and bird life with
occasional architectural embellishments (pictured below).
..
..
..
The triclinium (f) (pictured opposite showing the shared
window with oecus (e)) has lost much of its fourth style decoration
which consisted of white panels framed in red above a lower black
decorative frieze.
..
The two remaining rooms which open off the atrium are both in a poor
state of repair. Room (g) was the original tablinum which had access to
the garden by way of a wide doorway in its south wall. The room retains
some plaster remnants, but not enough to allow a realistic description
of the decoration. The adjoining room (h) has lost all of its
decoration.
..
The peristyle (i) with its small central garden (j) (pictured right
looking south) gave access to the triclinium (f) and the main laundry
facilities; three large tubs, interconnecting but without a drainage
system, and five oval basins where the workers washed the fabric by
trampling on it after having soaked it in a mixture of water and a
degreasing agent such as soda and human or animal urine (pictured
below).
..
The next step in the process was to soften the fabric by treating it
with fuller's earth before giving it a thorough rinsing. After that came
the drying, carding, clipping, brushing and final pressing.
..
Off the south west corner of the peristyle is a small kitchen (l) with a masonry hearth and a covered latrine.
|
The Fullonica of Stephanus, or Fullonica Stephani, lies on the south side of the Via dell'Abbondanza. The property, which was excavated in 1912, is the
only laundry in Pompeii that had not simply been adapted from an
existing building, but was a full restructuring of a patrician house,
rationally laid out to best fulfill its new function.
The name of the probable owner, a man named Stephanus, was deduced from
election propaganda painted near the entrance which also inform us that
women as well as men worked therein. Both the
final phase in the preparation of fabrics, the end process for removing
the last traces of dirt, as well as the public service of washing and
pressing garments took place in the fullonica.
..
..
..
..
The
atrium is dominated by the central impluvium (pictured below and lower
left) which has been transformed into a tub for washing by the addition
of a raised surround. This tub was probably used for the more delicate
fabrics or those with little staining. Clothes with more resistant
stains were literally trampled by workers in tubs at the rear of the
premises.
..
..
In the north west corner of the atrium (pictured above) a flight of
stairs leads to the upper floor. In the north east corner a doorway
opens onto a small service room (d) which has little or no surviving
decoration. Adjoining the service room is a large oecus (e) which is
decorated in the fourth style with red panels separated by architectural
elements above a lower black decorated frieze (pictured below). The
panels have decorative borders and contain floating figures. The figure
from the central panel of the east wall is shown lower left.
..
..
The upper zone contains
architectural motifs in
green, yellow and red with
garlands and bird life on a white ground. The west wall is open to the
atrium over much of its width. The room gets its light from the atrium
and by way of a window in its south wall which it shares with the
triclinium. A second doorway opens off the south west
corner giving direct access to the corridor which leads through to the
garden area.
..
..
..
..
|
* Images ©Jackie and Bob Dunn are
reproduced by permission from their website at
www.pompeiiinpictures.com
(Su concessione del Ministero per
i Beni e le Attività Culturali:
Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di
Napoli e Pompei)
|
|
|