Sardian sigillata is an offshoot and local version of Eastern Sigillata B, a product of the Meander Valley, which it resembles so closely in form, fabric, and finish that vessels of each industry can be very difficult to distinguish. The workshops that produced Sardian sigillata may have been located either at Sardis or in the hinterland, and the ware may have had a regional as well as a local distribution. To date, however, it has been found only in the vicinity of the city itself. Although this may merely reflect the limited excavation of Early Roman material that has thus far taken place elsewhere in the region, at this point Sardian (rather than Lyd...
Two stamped cups from Sardis. The cup on the left is 'real' ESB; that on right is Sardian sigillata (Rotroff 2018, fig. 1).
Very fine, dense, highly micaceous clay body, dark red in color (2.5YR 5/6), with thick, shiny dark red-orange slip covering the entire vessel. The clay body is slightly more red as compared to vessels of "real" Eastern Sigillata B, whose fabric is more reddish-yellow 5YR 6/6.
*this description is from Susan Rotroff's article "Eastern Sigillata at Sardis: Evidence for a Local Industry," BASOR ...
