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Cinerary urn in the shape of a sarcophagus with reclining man on lid
Cinerary urn in the shape of a sarcophagus with reclining man on lid

Cinerary urn in the shape of a sarcophagus with reclining man on lid

Date100–35 BC
MediumFired terra-cotta with polychrome
Dimensions11 x 12 3/4 x 6 3/8 inches (27.9 x 32.4 x 16.2 cm)
CultureItaly, Etruscan
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineTransferred from University Collections
Terms
  • Italia
  • Ceramics
  • Vessels - Urns
  • Vessels - Urns
  • Etruscan
Object number74.074.009
Label CopyThis cinerary urn depicts a figure reclining atop a triclinium bench, or kline, featuring a vibrantly colored mattress. The dark skin, the sleeved garment called a chiton, and the short hair identify this figure as male. The rope-like attribute in its right hand is either a garland to be worn around the neck or a fillet to be placed on the head.

This object was excavated in 1861 near the Italian town of Chiusi, part of a group of twenty-six cinerary urns. A tile was recorded as bearing the same name as this urn, indicating that it was originally used to seal it in a niche. Since tomb chambers do not have niches, this urn was likely located in the dromos, or elongated entryway.

The base of this urn features the name of the deceased: A. Fabi. Iucnus inscribed in Latin, and au fapi larthial painted in Etruscan. The bilingual inscription places this urn in the first century BCE before the Augustan period, during a two-to-three generation transition from Etruscan to Latin as the dominant household language in Chiusi.

Technical analysis conducted using X-ray fluorescence found a lack of costly inorganic pigments. Mercury was not detected in areas of red or pink color, ruling out expensive cinnabar, and copper was not detected in areas of blue-green color, ruling out all blue or green pigments used in antiquity aside from common green earth. Combined with the fact that this urn was mold-made using terracotta and not carved from stone, it was a rather inexpensive object to produce.

This low cost of production is not an indication of non-elite status, however. Elites in Chiusi became less inclined to spend a lot of money on burials following the advent of mass production of urns, since lower classes were able to afford formal tomb burials as well. (Ryan Stommel, '19, History of Art)


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Both in its structure and its decoration, this cinerary urn—a receptacle for the ashes of the deceased that was originally placed in a tomb—exemplifies Pliny’s fascination with earth, which he especially associates with the more “humble” art of the pre-Roman Etruscans. The urn depicts the deceased man, clad in a sleeved garment called a chiton, reclining atop a dining bench with a vibrantly colored mattress.

Technical analysis has revealed that the urn, molded from clay, is also decorated entirely in common mineral and earth-derived pigments, and was therefore inexpensive to produce. However, this low cost is not an indication of non-elite status of the deceased, but rather shows a change in the sumptuousness of burials as lower-class families became able to afford tomb burials as well.

The materials (and intended contents) of this vessel recall Pliny’s statement also evoked by Clementine Keith-Roach’s sculpture nearby: “Earth receives us at birth, and gives us nurture after birth…at the last. . . she embraces us in her bosom and…gives us her maternal shelter” (2.154).
(Andrew C. Weislogel and Rodrigo Guzman Serrano, PhD student, “Wonder and Wakefulness: The Nature of Pliny the Elder,” exhibition organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, curated by Andrew C. Weislogel and Verity J. Platt, presented at the Johnson Museum January 21–June 11, 2023)
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