North Wall

Thomas Staub

N wall: width 3.10 m, max. preserved height 3.10 m (north-east corner). Different layers of plaster cover most of the wall. The wall seems to consist of a mixed opus incertum with mainly Sarno stone; some pieces of lava, cruma and brick are visible as well. The upper north-west corner above the plastered area is in a 0.80 m wide zone reconstructed in modern times.
The uppermost layer of plaster belongs to the decoration system as the plaster on the other walls, with some traces of a red decoration on dark ground; see below, description of the decorations. At some places the layer of fine plaster has fallen off, revealing the under plaster. In the western part of the wall, stretching towards east for 1.80 m, earlier layers of plaster are visible above 2.20 m height, partly with fine plaster (with no traces of decorations). At its eastern end, the plaster protrudes for 2 mm towards south, thus indicating a former corner in the room. The area to the east of that corner has no remains of the earlier plaster, but is covered by a very homogeneous, beige mortar, which is also visible in a round spot (diam. 0.30 m) at 1.30 m height from the north-west corner, in the area else covered by the later plaster. Next to the door towards the corridor, the lower part (up until 0.60 m height) of the wall shows under plaster, related to the latest decorations of the room, into which some shard of ceramics are pressed.