Rare Roman bowl on display at Docklands museum

The bowl was uncovered last September during a six month dig on a Roman burial site in Prescot Street in Spitalfields.

It was part of a haul of ancient treasures found in the burial chest of a wealthy Roman Londoner and is the first such item to be found whole in western Europe.

Guy Hunt, director of L-P: Archaeology who carried out the excavation, said: "This find is unprecedented in western Europe. It is an extremely delicate piece and nothing has been found like this before. Whoever owned it was the Roman equivalent of a millionaire.

"We think it was made in Egypt and transported to London. For it to have not only survived that journey but subsequent burial and everything that has happened to London since is amazing."

The bowl was intact when found but disintegrated once the soil around it was removed. It was painstakingly pieced together by the Museum of London's conservator Liz Goodman

She said: "Piecing together and conserving such a complete artefact offered a rare and thrilling challenge. We occasionally get tiny fragments of this material, but the opportunity to work on a whole artefact of this nature is extraordinary."